Deutsche Bank to replace IT systems - FT

Deutsche Bank to replace IT systems - FT

New Deutsche Bank boss John Cryan is set to promise investors that replacing the bank's troublesome technology systems will be a top priority, according to the Financial Times.

Accroding to the FT, Cryan, appointed as Deutsche Bank co-CEO in July, has reportedly criticised the "Horlicks" made of the bank's trading technology, whereby the tactic of pitting different teams against each other to spur on performance has unwittingly created a messy infrastructure of incompatible systems across the bank.

Consequently many trades cannot be processed or reconciled without costly manual intervention. For example, the bank has 100 different systems for booking trades in London alone.

Cryan had earlier signalled his intention to address Deutsche Bank's IT issues when he issued a memo to staff in July stating that "we must standardise our systems and procedures, decommission legacy software, standardise and enhance our data and improve our reporting".

He also recently promoted former Boeing executive and chief information officer Kim Hammonds to the role of chief operating officer and charged her with the responsibility of overseeing the IT overhaul. She will also join the board within a year.

Hammonds has reportedly told colleagues that the bank's IT operations as based on trail and error and akin to watching an airline send planes into the sky, watch them crash and then try and learn from the mistakes.

Comments: (3)

A Finextra member
A Finextra member 27 October, 2015, 14:19Be the first to give this comment the thumbs up 0 likes

Loving the "trail and error" comment!

Ketharaman Swaminathan
Ketharaman Swaminathan - GTM360 Marketing Solutions - Pune 27 October, 2015, 15:46Be the first to give this comment the thumbs up 0 likes

Curious to know if Hammonds approves or rejects such a "trail and error" approach? Because there's more to follow in the same lines viz. "fail fast", etc.!

Hitesh Thakkar
Hitesh Thakkar - SME - Fintech startups (APAC and Africa) - India 27 October, 2015, 17:351 like 1 like

Hope Hammond use her experience of Boeing - Tunnel Test !!!

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