After the takeover of its new subsidiary Postbank, Deutsche Bank wants to close a significant proportion of the branches. There are currently significant problems with online banking.
The head of the Federal Association of Consumer Advice Centers, Ramona Pop, has sharply criticized the planned large-scale branch reductions at Postbank. The news that almost half of the branches are to be closed right now sounds like “sheer mockery” for Postbank’s customers, Pop told the newspapers of the Funke media group (Thursday). “In view of massive and persistent problems with online banking in recent months, Deutsche Bank should finally improve customer service instead of weakening it by closing branches.”
Deutsche Bank wants to close up to 250 of the current 550 Postbank branches at its subsidiary Postbank over the next two years, as private customer boss Claudio de Sanctis recently announced.
Postbank and the construction finance provider DSL-Bank had significant problems with the IT migration to Deutsche Bank. Data from around twelve million Postbank customers was converted to Deutsche Bank’s IT systems. As a result, customers were sometimes unable to access their accounts and customer service was difficult to reach. Consumer advocates reported last week that complaints from those affected were continuing. Pop now again demanded that Deutsche Bank solve the problems at Postbank quickly and compensate the injured customers in an unbureaucratic manner.
According to previous information from the Federal Association of Consumer Organizations, there have been around 1,700 complaints from Postbank and DSL Bank customers since the beginning of the year. Between January and September 2023, that is almost three times as many complaints as in the entire previous year. In the third quarter alone, the consumer advice centers recorded more than 1,100 complaints about the two banks.
Source: Stern
