2023-09-04 16:46:03
FRANKFURT/BONN (dpa-AFX) – Financial supervisory authority Bafin is increasing pressure on parent company Deutsche Bank following massive complaints from Postbank customers. Since the beginning of the year 2022/2023, Bafin has observed “considerable disruptions in the processing of Postbank customer transactions”, denounced the German Federal Financial Services Supervisory Authority (Bafin) on Monday. The financial supervisory authority examines “whether there are significant gaps in supervision at the institution”. Bafin asked the bank to “remediate customer service restrictions as soon as possible”.
If the situation did not improve, supervisors might take further action, such as ordering a special check or appointing a special representative to monitor whether directives issued by supervisors are implemented promptly.
Deutsche Bank takes the blame for Bafin “very seriously”, Deutsche Bank’s head of German retail banking, Lars Stoy, told the German Press Agency in Frankfurt. “Improving Postbank’s customer service is our top priority.”
Complaints once morest Postbank had multiplied in recent months, in particular due to a change in the IT system. The German Consumer Federation (vzbv) reported that in the first half of the current year alone, 583 complaints were filed by customers of the establishment. This figure is almost as high as that of the previous year.
Postbank customers have complained that they can no longer access their accounts, have their accounts blocked or their direct debits cancelled. Customer service was therefore difficult to reach or unable to solve problems. In some cases, the bank was satisfied with a standard letter as the only response, according to those concerned.
As part of a far-reaching IT changeover, twelve million Postbank customers have been brought together in four waves since Easter 2022 with seven million Deutsche Bank customers in Germany on a common platform. With the new structure, the group wants to save 300 million euros per year from 2025.
It was above all the second wave of data transfers around New Year’s Eve 2022/2023 that angered customers when securities deposits, among other things, were affected. In early July, Deutsche Bank announced that the “Unity” project had been completed. But the reports of customers complaining regarding technical problems at the postal bank have not stopped.
For the past few months, there have been a large number of customer inquiries, said Deutsche Bank manager Stoy. The bank has strengthened its service teams by several hundred employees in recent weeks and will continue to do so. “Despite this, we have processing times in some service processes that do not meet our requirements.”
Stoy assured: “We are working to restore the situation as quickly as possible. But it will take a few more weeks for the situation to return to normal in the sectors concerned”.
The objective is however to absorb the “delay” which has accumulated as quickly as possible, underlined the manager. “Each dissatisfied customer is one too many. I would like to sincerely apologize to our customers for the inconvenience caused. We are currently imposing constraints on them and we want to remedy them as soon as possible. We are aware that we will have to do great effort to regain the lost trust”.
The director of the German Consumer Federation (vzbv), Ramona Pop, had criticized, in view of the persistent complaints in connection with the change of IT system, the fact that with such problems “there can no longer be any question of processes correct banking, since central services in payment traffic might apparently no longer be maintained for all customers”.
Lately, there have been additional issues regarding seizure protection accounts. On these accounts, indebted people can protect a certain asset from seizure. This should ensure that money is available for standing orders such as rent and electricity as well as food or medicine. Under the headline “Mismanagement of Postbank: Consumer Association of North Rhine-Westphalia seizes Bafin”, consumer advocates in North Rhine-Westphalia have called for an “urgent intervention” from the financial supervisory authority. According to information from consumer advocates, many customers who rely on seizure protection accounts face serious financial problems due to slow processes at Postbank.
According to earlier reports, the Bafin has long been “in close contact” with the postal bank “for all customer service restrictions”. This also applies to processing times for seizure and inheritance cases. “We have made it clear that the establishment must remedy the shortcomings observed as quickly and as completely as possible,” said the financial supervisory authority./ben/DP/ngu
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