Deutsche Bank invests heavily: Digital awakening under De Sanctis!

Deutsche Bank invests heavily: Digital awakening under De Sanctis!

Deutsche Bank is under pressure to advance its digital transformation in retail banking. Claudio de Sanctis, who has been a board member for private customers since July 2021, sees digitalization as a key strategy to compete with neo-brokers like Trade Republic. After a difficult start due to an IT debacle at Postbank, de Sanctis realized that substantial investments in customer service were essential. Since he took office, hundreds of millions of euros have been invested in these areas, made possible by cost reductions, branch closures and job cuts. These measures are part of a comprehensive plan to streamline the bank's leadership structure.

Analysts at Morgan Stanley estimate that Deutsche Bank's wealth management business can achieve a return on equity of 20 percent. To achieve this, around 300 private banking consultants were exchanged in international business. De Sanctis also plans to create a digital investment platform that will be able to efficiently process millions of small-scale transactions. This is primarily intended to make investing easier for all customers, as the bank is currently working on developing technical solutions.

Focus on digital innovation

The digital robo-advisor "Robin" is considered inadequate among executives, and de Sanctis faces the challenge of deciding within the next six to 12 months whether to build a new digital investment route alone or in partnership with other companies. An important step in this direction could be moving online and mobile banking systems to Google Cloud, as data storage in the cloud is considered necessary.

Deutsche Bank's private banking division recorded pre-tax profits of 1.1 billion euros in the first half of 2025, an increase of 50 percent compared to the previous year. Despite this positive development, the key figures of an after-tax return of 9.5 percent and a cost-income ratio of 70 percent are below the goals of the entire group, which are more than 10 percent return on equity and less than 65 percent cost-income ratio. However, De Sanctis remains optimistic that the retail division can achieve the group's targets by the end of the year, but emphasizes that continued investments are necessary for future revenue increases.

Personal backgrounds and insights into the industry

Claudio de Sanctis is an experienced banker who began his career at renowned institutions such as UBS and Credit Suisse before joining Deutsche Bank at the end of 2018. He has both Italian and Swiss citizenship and barely speaks German. However, this is not a problem due to Deutsche Bank's English corporate language. His parents come from Rome and Bern, and his mother grew up in the USA and Belgium.

De Sanctis leads the EMEA region and has the challenge of operating in an increasingly complex and volatile financial environment. He sees inflation, the energy crisis and geopolitical tensions as key challenges. With a clear vision, he emphasizes the importance of values ​​and consistency when recruiting new employees in the bank.

Deutsche Bank serves a broad customer base, including entrepreneurs in Europe as well as clients from the Middle East and Latin America. The strategic presence in Switzerland remains crucial for cross-border wealth management, while the bank has divested itself of Russian clients in what is seen as a long-term process. Despite the tougher conditions in the industry, discretion remains a core value in wealth management.

Overall, Deutsche Bank, under the leadership of Claudio de Sanctis, is positioning itself proactively in the changing financial market, with a clear focus on developments in the digital area and a customer-oriented strategy.