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Deutsche Bank and Postbank logo in Bonn: "The situation is anything but good"
Photo: IMAGO/Marc John
Deutsche Bank CEO Christina Sewing has admitted mistakes in the IT conversion of the subsidiary Postbank and wants to get the problems under control with additional resources. At the same time, however, the manager also admitted that the problems at Postbank will drag on for a few more weeks.
There are "three to four critical applications" in the conversion of IT systems, Sewing said at a Handelsblatt conference in Frankfurt. In order to make up for all the arrears, the bank will also need the fourth quarter. At the same time, Sewing emphasized: "I have seen a significant improvement in the situation over the past four weeks." The bank is "now on the right track".
BaFin boss called problems "unacceptable"
"There is nothing to gloss over about the situation. Overall, this is a situation for which we can only apologize," Sewing said. And: "We have not lived up to our responsibility here." The customers were very disappointed. 400 to 500 additional employees are now dedicated to the topic. The Supervisory Board is also involved.
There are considerable problems with the migration of Postbank's IT to Deutsche Bank's systems, and customer complaints had become more frequent. Customers were temporarily unable to access their accounts, and customer service was barely available. The many complaints called consumer advocates and the financial regulator BaFin on the scene, which reprimanded the institution in an exceptionally sharp form.
BaFin President Mark Branson had recently insisted on a quick fix of the IT problems, he called them "unacceptable". It is a unique situation how many complaints there are about a single institute. It is no longer just a migration problem, but there are other profound disruptions in customer service, he told the "Süddeutsche Zeitung".
"The situation is anything but good, anything but nice. However, I believe that we will get this situation under control very, very quickly," Sewing said. He expects that the bank will have returned to normal operation in the course of October in the garnishment protection accounts, and he sees a similar trend in loan disbursements.
"We made a mistake," Sewing admitted. He did not quantify how expensive the problems are likely to be for the institute. "This is not about costs," Sewing emphasized: "We have to do everything we can to satisfy customers again." Deutsche Bank had underestimated the extent of customer demand in the course of IT integration.
apr/Reuters/dpa