The processing of customer inquiries at Postbank will take a little longer than Deutsche Bank initially hoped. “Processing the remaining backlogs is complex and in some cases takes more time. We will therefore finish processing some of these cases at the beginning of 2024,” said a spokesman for Deutsche Bank, without saying how many customers are approximately affected by the delay . According to reports, the remaining problems will be resolved during the first quarter. There has been good progress in processing the cases since the summer, also because of the 800 additional workers for these tasks. The bank had hoped to complete the processing in 2023. CEO Christian Sewing had promised to take care of the issue personally. First had that Handelsblatt reported about it.
The problems at Deutsche Bank subsidiary Postbank brought the financial regulator Bafin to the attention of the bank in September after customer complaints had piled up. There were significant problems with the migration of Postbank’s IT to Deutsche Bank’s systems, which was actually declared complete in July. Customers were temporarily unable to access their accounts and customer service was almost impossible to reach. Bafin boss Mark Branson described the chaos at Postbank as “unacceptable” in an interview with SZ. The authority even sent a special representative to oversee the elimination of the problems. Meanwhile, Deutsche Bank’s supervisory board has also commissioned its own auditor, EY, to examine the board’s responsibility for the service debacle. Bank management had long downplayed the problems; Internal warnings about growing customer complaints failed, as an insider told SZ.
At the same time, Deutsche Bank launched on Wednesday morning via the Postbank website an online compensation process, through which those affected can claim damages of up to 1,000 euros. The damage must have occurred as a result of a seizure, bankruptcy or when setting up or deregistering a so-called seizure protection account. Customers would have to prove this with appropriate documents, including reminder costs, return debits or late payment interest. “The process is digital, so that Postbank customers do not have to visit a branch to assert their claims,” said a spokesman. However, it is also possible to submit the application in the branch. “After applications have been submitted, legitimate claims for damages are usually reimbursed by the end of the following month.” However, anyone who wants to claim higher damages or damages for other reasons must use the usual procedures and contact the bank via branch, call center or in writing.