Deutsche Bank's takeover of Postbank hasn't gone well, according to customers
- Reference: 1676981715
- News link: https://www.theregister.co.uk/2023/02/21/postbank_customer_complaints/
- Source link:
Deutsche Bank [1]won majority control of rival Deutsche Postbank in 2010 to become Germany's biggest retail bank.
Postbank then announced [2]plans to move its technology to a new IT platform based on Deutsche Bank systems.
[3]
In January, the Berlin Kurier [4]reported on customer complaints that online transfers did not work, activation of online telephone banking failed, and some had not been able to use online banking for 14 days.
[5]
[6]
"Out of five attempts to make a transfer by phone, I have to cancel four times because there are problems with the voice computer. Then you are put through to the employee and you get the message that the system is overloaded. Due to the high volume of calls, no processing can take place. After 50 years, I will change now," one angry customer said.
A spokesperson for Deutsche Bank told The Register the program was fully on track, and all 4 million contracts of Postbank customers were migrated between December 31 and January 2 as planned.
[7]Oracle cozies up to IBM, adds Red Hat Enterprise Linux
[8]Oracle clouds never go down, says Oracle's Larry Ellison
[9]Deutsche Bank backs Nvidia's bet to make big bucks on software
[10]Financial watchdogs want to know what traders are talking about on WhatsApp
"We received some complaints from users regarding their individual online or mobile banking configuration, due to the fact that few functionalities and features changed," they said. "There are no current issues with regards to central IT platform. The program is fully on schedule."
Whether it is an issue with user acceptance or the technical platform, customers are rating the online banking services an average of one star, [11]according to TrustPilot .
[12]
In February, one complained a password reset took 11 days, another said they weren't able to make deposits in branch, while others said online services were unavailable.
"Absolutely nothing has worked since the IT relocation botch. How can it get any worse?" another customer asked.
In June 2021, Deutsche Bank said it would [13]migrate all its Oracle systems onto a single instance of Big Red's on-prem cloud . At the time, the bank declined to comment on whether its core banking systems continued to run on SAP, as they had since 2010.
[14]
Six months earlier, Deutsche Bank said it would " [15]co-innovate " with Google Cloud, creating "the next generation of cloud-based financial services." ®
Get our [16]Tech Resources
[1] https://www.ft.com/content/601c6480-f94b-11df-a4a5-00144feab49a
[2] https://www-postbank-de.translate.goog/privatkunden/services/kundenservice/gut-zu-wissen.html
[3] https://pubads.g.doubleclick.net/gampad/jump?co=1&iu=/6978/reg_software/databases&sz=300x50%7C300x100%7C300x250%7C300x251%7C300x252%7C300x600%7C300x601&tile=2&c=2Y-T4sndL8EuGOOy0ytnH6gAAAMA&t=ct%3Dns%26unitnum%3D2%26raptor%3Dcondor%26pos%3Dtop%26test%3D0
[4] https://www-berliner--kurier-de.translate.goog/politik-wirtschaft/postbank-vermasselt-it-umstellung-kunden-sauer-li.306075
[5] https://pubads.g.doubleclick.net/gampad/jump?co=1&iu=/6978/reg_software/databases&sz=300x50%7C300x100%7C300x250%7C300x251%7C300x252%7C300x600%7C300x601&tile=4&c=44Y-T4sndL8EuGOOy0ytnH6gAAAMA&t=ct%3Dns%26unitnum%3D4%26raptor%3Dfalcon%26pos%3Dmid%26test%3D0
[6] https://pubads.g.doubleclick.net/gampad/jump?co=1&iu=/6978/reg_software/databases&sz=300x50%7C300x100%7C300x250%7C300x251%7C300x252%7C300x600%7C300x601&tile=3&c=33Y-T4sndL8EuGOOy0ytnH6gAAAMA&t=ct%3Dns%26unitnum%3D3%26raptor%3Deagle%26pos%3Dmid%26test%3D0
[7] https://www.theregister.com/2023/01/31/oracle_cloud_rhel/
[8] https://www.theregister.com/2022/12/13/oracle_clouds_never_go_down/
[9] https://www.theregister.com/2022/12/07/deutsche_bank_nvidia_software/
[10] https://www.theregister.com/2022/10/13/whatsapp_trader_comms_regulation/
[11] https://de.trustpilot.com/review/www.postbank.de
[12] https://pubads.g.doubleclick.net/gampad/jump?co=1&iu=/6978/reg_software/databases&sz=300x50%7C300x100%7C300x250%7C300x251%7C300x252%7C300x600%7C300x601&tile=4&c=44Y-T4sndL8EuGOOy0ytnH6gAAAMA&t=ct%3Dns%26unitnum%3D4%26raptor%3Dfalcon%26pos%3Dmid%26test%3D0
[13] https://www.theregister.com/2021/06/25/deutsche_bank_consolidates_oracle_systems/
[14] https://pubads.g.doubleclick.net/gampad/jump?co=1&iu=/6978/reg_software/databases&sz=300x50%7C300x100%7C300x250%7C300x251%7C300x252%7C300x600%7C300x601&tile=3&c=33Y-T4sndL8EuGOOy0ytnH6gAAAMA&t=ct%3Dns%26unitnum%3D3%26raptor%3Deagle%26pos%3Dmid%26test%3D0
[15] https://www.theregister.com/2020/07/07/deutsche_bank_google/
[16] https://whitepapers.theregister.com/
Wontfix
"As planned" should probably be examined in a bit more detail. Anything from "works on my machine" to "customers being able to access their accounts wasn't in the spec"
The joy of outsourcing
Postbank's IT was managed in-house by the 100% owned Postbank Systems. But in 2020, Deutsche Bank as owner of PB, and in yet another one of their questionable initiatives (see DB's history), sold PB Systems to the Tata Group(*). Nothing wrong with that - staff from Tata and other Indian consulting companies had been running around the Dark Tower of Mordor (DB data and IT centre near Frankfurt) long before the sale. At the same time, various efforts to integrate or migrate PB's IT into DB's systems did not always work out quite as planned...
But whether staff at PB Systems, many of whom had been working there for many years and knew their systems in and out, were really that keen on being shunted off to a new employer? And so, out-the-door the knowledge walked.
Correction to the cited FT article : In 2010 Deutsche Bank did not have full control as it was waiting for regulatory approval to take over the then still "independent" Postbank. I believe approval came later, probably in 2012, (can't be bothered to look it up). It was a funny situation - everybody knew DB would be the new master but officially, PB was still operating and deciding autonomously, with "delicate" interactions between the two organisations, so as not to piss off the regulatory bodies.
* https://www.db.com/news/detail/20201109-deutsche-bank-announces-sale-of-postbank-systems-to-tata-consultancy-services?language_id=1
Awful systems
I recently had to help someone set up online banking for Postbank. Now, I know security is both very important and difficult, but does it really need six letters and at least two different username/password combinations? I work with computers all the time and I found it very difficult and very confusing!
hehehehe
Ex DB employee though not involved in the project. I do remember its shadow lurking in the background of every IT investment decision from 2010 onward. From memory the migration was cancelled at least twice before coming back as the ultimate zombie project.