FRANKFURT, Germany – Germany’s leading commercial lender Deutsche Bank registered on Wednesday a net loss of 3.1 billion euros ($3.4 billion) in the second quarter of 2019, largely down to massive restructuring that resulted in the dismissal of 18,000 employees.

The bank said the mass redundancies cost 3.4 billion euros overall in the second quarter, more than it had estimated.

“We have already taken significant steps to implement our strategy to transform Deutsche Bank. These are reflected in our results,” CEO Christian Sewing said.

“A substantial part of our restructuring costs is already digested in the second quarter. Excluding transformation charged the bank would be profitable and in our more stable businesses revenues were flat or growing.”

He said the stable or upward tick in revenues, combined with a solid capital and liquidity position, made for “a firm foundation for growth.”

Without the overhaul, second-quarter net income would have been 231 million euros and a pre-tax profit of 441 million euros, the bank said.

At the beginning of July, Deutsche Bank announced it would ax large portions of its trading desks in a move that would cut 18,000 jobs at a cost of 7.4 billion euros by 2022.

It calculated that the restructuring in 2019 would cost 5.1 billion euros overall in 2019 and 2.8 billion euros in the second quarter. It also forecast a net profit of 120 million euros in the same period, excluding the charges.

By cutting its workforce by 18,000, down to 74,000, the bank hoped to reduce costs by 6 billion euros to 17 billion euros by 2020.

The lender said the costs from the staffing overhaul would not affect its capital position and reported a Common Equity Tier 1 ratio of 13.4 percent.