Deutsche Bank is once again taking the red line in its private customer business: almost half of the remaining Postbank branches are scheduled to close by 2026. 250 of the current 550 locations would be closed in the next two and a half years, the banking group’s head of private customers, Claudio de Sanctis, announced in an interview published on Monday Financial Times at. And this is likely to affect not only Postbank account holders, but also many postal customers: parcels can also be dropped off and stamps bought in the branches.
Many branches have been unprofitable for a long time, but could not be given up because of a long-term contract with the Post, the former owner of Postbank, said de Sanctis. The contract has now been renegotiated. It was said that this would no longer be possible in 100 of the remaining locations in the future. Employees there should only offer banking services. However, the post office wants to ensure that its services remain available at the affected locations through other partners such as stationery stores, said a spokeswoman.
The network of Deutsche Bank branches should also be trimmed, said de Sanctis, without giving any figures. Postbank should become a “mobile-first” bank, with on-site advice playing a smaller role in the future. De Sanctis did not want to say whether and how many jobs would be lost. Exact numbers and locations are being negotiated with employee representatives. Deutsche Bank hopes that the conversion will result in “very significant savings that will exceed the investments we have to make.”
Fear is already spreading in the bank
According to SZ information, there is already fear of further major job cuts in the bank. “Thousands of employees will be cut – especially those who have stood up for the bank in recent months,” said a company insider. The focus should now – once again – be on digitization, which has not worked in the past. A company spokesman left a request for comment unanswered.
Deutsche Bank has recently had difficulties with the issue of advice and presence. After Postbank data was moved to Deutsche Bank’s IT systems, thousands of customers complained: They couldn’t access their accounts for weeks or even complained about unauthorized debits. Customers with seizure protection accounts were particularly affected, some of whom, according to consumer advocates, were in dire straits. One of the main problems was that the board led by CEO Christian Sewing wanted to carry out the IT migration in a kind of savings option and had not planned enough employees for the call centers. The financial regulator Bafin even brought this up recently. A special representative is now supposed to ensure that business operations are running again.
De Sanctis reiterated that the problems should be resolved by the end of the year and that “significant progress” had been made. According to consumer advocates, the situation at Postbank has not improved. The problems would have long since appeared at Deutsche Bank. However, the group apparently does not want to compensate customers in the foreseeable future. We don’t expect many lawsuits, said CFO James von Moltke a few days ago on the occasion of the quarterly figures, where the bank announced a higher dividend to shareholders. The Bundestag members Nadine Heselhaus (SPD), Linda Heitmann (Greens) and Judith Skudelny (FDP) had demanded in a letter to Sewing that the bank should “voluntarily provide appropriate compensation” to customers Time Online reported. However, the Deutsche Bank boss rejected the demand for a flat rate of 150 euros in compensation for people who did not get their money for months.