Deutsche Bank discovers thousands of unresolved customer complaints

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Deutsche Bank has discovered thousands of forgotten and unresolved complaints in its German retail operation Postbank, people familiar with the matter told the Financial Times.

The backlog of customer service issues has emerged months after the German lender promised to quickly fix the widespread disruption caused by a botched IT migration project.

The glitch raises new questions over the bank’s internal communications and workflow systems as chief executive Christian Sewing scrambles to sort out flaws in the way its German retail customers are treated that had already drawn the ire of financial watchdog BaFin.

In November, the bank discovered that the scale of the problem was significantly bigger than it had previously thought. Thousands of unresolved retail client complaints had not been properly flagged or processed in its internal workflow software and had continued to pile up.

The discovery has triggered a review of the bank’s operational processes, leading to the suspension of one employee.

The forgotten complaints are a crucial reason why Deutsche Bank looks set to fail to meet a previous promise to fix pervasive customer service disruptions at Postbank by the end of the year, people familiar with the matter told the FT.

Deutsche Bank has since the summer been struggling with the fallout of the botched IT migration that saw clients locked out of accounts and internal workflows at the bank break down.

After an avalanche of client complaints and a public rebuke from BaFin, Sewing in September apologised for the issues and promised to make them one of his top priorities. The financial watchdog sent in a special monitor who is overseeing the bank’s progress on the issues, and Sewing is receiving twice-a-week personal briefings on the issue.

One person briefed on the glitch called the matter “really embarrassing”, adding that it suggested “Deutsche Bank is not on top of its internal processes — that’s not a message any regulator will be pleased about”.

BaFin in September publicly rebuked Deutsche Bank over the disruption for customers at its retail arm, reminding the bank that it was required to “comply with the relevant statutory deadlines for the protection of customers”.

Sewing has subsequently apologised for the problems, admitting that the bank had let clients down. “Now we have to work all the harder to fix the problems quickly and completely and regain trust,” he said in late September, promising the matter would be resolved by the end of this year.

Deutsche Bank declined to comment on the forgotten backlog of client complaints. Earlier this week, it confirmed a report by Handelsblatt that it had run into delays on resolving the backlog.

“We have made significant progress in clearing the backlog of client inquiries since the summer — also thanks to the support of more than 800 additional people for these tasks,” the bank said in a statement, adding that working through the remaining backlog was “complex and takes more time in some areas”.