Deutsche Bank has created a central technology division that will oversee tech security, data and innovation functions.
The new unit will be led by Bernd Leukert, a long-time SAP executive who joined Deutsche earlier this year as the management board member responsible for digitalisaiton, data and innovation
In an internal note seen by Reuters, the bank says: “At its heart, our technology strategy empowers our businesses to control ‘what’ is produced, while technology has control of the ‘how’. In the past, the ‘how’ offered too much optionality and did not consistently follow group-wide architecture and tooling.”
The German lender's management have previously complained about "lousy" and complex IT systems. The new unit is designed to help simplify processes while enabling the bank to innovate.
In July, Deutsche said it will be investing €13 billion in technology by 2022 as part of an effort to increase both innovation and efficiency.
In its note to staff, the bank says: “We have a bank-wide commitment to strengthen engineering expertise in the bank by increasing the share of expert internal technology staff.”