Deutsche Bank plans €100m streamlining project for retail ops

Written by Alex Hamilton
11th December 2019

Deutsche Bank is planning to streamline its retail banking operations in Germany to the tune of €100 million, according to the Financial Times.

Deutsche plans to absorb its independent German retail bank

The German financial institution is planning to sunset the legal entity that operates its domestic retail operations, Deutsche Bank Privat- und Firmenkundenbank (PFK), and merge it into a new group structure.

According to FT sources close to the matter, the decision is to be announced at a capital markets day at the bank, amid pressure on Deutsche Bank CEO, Christian Sewing, from investors to demonstrate that the bank is making progress on its restructuring program.

Deutsche is attempting a $6.6 billion savings initiative over the next three years.

The bank has given up on its 2% growth target for the private bank and expects its revenue to plateau in 2022 as interest rates change.

At the end of 2018, the PFK division employed 34,000 people and was responsible for a fifth of Deutsche’s total assets. The division has its own banking licence, executive and supervisory boards, and risk controls.

According to the FT sources, this independent status has led to duplication and struggles over bureaucracy. Deutsche is hoping that the restructure will mean that it doesn’t have to make further job cuts.

In November, the German bank revealed that it is using automation to achieve its goal of cutting 18,000 staff, and that machine learning tools were already saving around 680,000 hours of manual work.

Bloomberg reported in October that Deutsche would be focusing the bulk of its cuts on the German market.

Manfred Knof, the new head of the retail unit, is said to be investigating whether savings could be made by turning the bank’s second retail headquarters in Bonn into an outpost.