The financial regulator BaFin is increasing the pressure on the parent company Deutsche Bank in the face of massive complaints from Postbank customers. Since the turn of the year 2022/2023, the Bafin has observed “considerable impairments in the processing of customer business at Postbank”, the Federal Financial Supervisory Authority (BaFin) complained on Monday. The Financial Supervisory Authority is now examining “whether there are supervisoryly relevant deficiencies in the institution”.
On request, Deutsche Bank in Frankfurt referred to a “significantly increased volume of inquiries and orders” from customers. This sometimes leads to significantly longer processing times.
“We regret the inconvenience for our customers, for which we apologize in all forms.” The bank is working on an improvement and has among other things, the number of service employees has increased significantly.
The Complaints about the post office had accumulated in the past few months – especially in connection with an IT conversion. As a result, customers were temporarily unable to access their accounts, direct debits were honored incorrectly or not at all, and customer service was difficult to reach. Hundreds of complaints were received by the consumer advice centers alone.
Recently, there was also trouble about so-called garnishment protection accounts. A number of customers who depend on the funds in such accounts would have due to slow processes at Postbank struggling with acute financial problems, had criticized the consumer center North Rhine-Westphalia. The consumer advocates had called for “urgent action” by BaFin.
According to earlier information, BaFin stands by “all restrictions in customer service” at Postbank been in close contact with the bank for a long time. This also applies to the processing times for garnishment and estate matters. “We have made it very clear that the institute must remedy the deficiencies that have arisen as quickly and comprehensively as possible,” the financial supervisory authority had announced. (dpa)