Deutsche Bank is burying a digital U.S. bank project, just months after opening a laboratory as part of a $1 billion, five-year project for digital initiatives.
Deutsche Bank Chief Executive John Cryan is cutting back in unexpected places: after opening the Silicon Valley lab in April, the project is now being mothballed and its staff redeployed elsewhere, the German bank's boss said in a memorandum yesterday.
After dispatching chief operating officer Henry Ritchotte to the digital bank project last October, Deutsche now says it has decided not to pursue a digital banking service in the U.S.
Contrasting Digitization Efforts
«Doing so would require us to divert resources from our core strategy of further focusing and innovating the bank’s offerings to clients and re-building its infrastructure,» Cryan said in the statement.
Though Cryan said that several ideas of Ritchotte and his team will be implemented in its divisions, the move stands in contrast to efforts that Deutsche's competitors such as UBS, Credit Suisse, and Citi are pouring into digitization for clients.
Digital Team Expected to Stay
Cryan said the digital team would be moved to other Deutsche Bank businesses, but didn't mention what would happen to Ritchotte, who was part of Deutsche Bank's top management before leaving to take the U.S.-based job.
Cryan has already had to push back the planned listing of its Postbank subsidiary, and the sale of its Abbey Life division faces delays due to an investigation by Britain's Financial Conduct Authority, or FCA.
