(8 June 2016 – Germany) Germany’s largest bank is discarding plans to set up a new digital banking service in the United States.
Deutsche Bank’s chief executive John Cryan told staff earlier this week that the bank judged that the implementation of such a service in the United States would have diverted resources from the bank’s core strategy.
Cryan has taken wide-sweeping measures to turn the bank around from court cases and profit decreases. The strategy has involved a restructuring information technology and internal processes, as well as cost-cutting measures including branch closures and job cuts.
In last year's management reshuffle, Deutsche Bank made former operations chief Henry Ritchotte responsible for the development of the new digital bank in the United States.
Deutsche had said that it would spend up to €1 billion euros (A$1.52 billion) on digital initiatives over the next five years.
The staff memo said that the team had created an “excellent blueprint” and that Cryan would meet with Ritchotte to discuss new plans for the group.
“We are determined to implement several ideas generated by Henry and his team in our business divisions,” Cryan's memo said.