Deutsche Bank Completes First Step in Major IT Systems Overhaul

(Bloomberg) -- Deutsche Bank AG is making headway in its effort to cut hundreds of millions of euros in costs by retiring the legacy IT systems linked to its Postbank unit.

The lender “has successfully completed the first step” in a large-scale transformation of the IT systems in its retail business, it said in a statement Wednesday. The project is “one of the most important strategic measures” amid a large restructuring program across the division, Deutsche Bank said. Implementation is taking place in several stages and is scheduled to be completed in 2023, it said.

The effort, known internally as Project Unity, is a key plank in Chief Executive Officer Christian Sewing’s plan to slash costs at the lender’s vast but less-profitable domestic retail business. Consolidating IT across the unit is ultimately expected to lower annual expenses by about 300 million euros ($324 million), the bank said last month.

Deutsche Bank has spent billions of euros on various projects on the integration of Postbank, with a succession of CEO changing their minds on whether to keep or sell the unit since its purchase in 2010. Sewing himself has been involved in the project since he oversaw the lender’s retail and wealth management operations before his promotion to CEO four years ago.

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