AFTAs 2019: Best IT Team, Sell Side—Deutsche Bank

Deutsche Bank’s Innovation Labs takes home its first ever win in the AFTAs for the best sell-side IT team, thanks to its success in identifying technological solutions for addressing problems across all divisions of the bank. The bank is pushing to modernize its IT infrastructure in order to improve operational efficiencies and reduce costs. A major part of that initiative has been its use of its Innovation Labs to evaluate suitable providers and more easily integrate their solutions into the existing systems.

Once a demand is established by the team, it conducts a market analysis of relevant potential partners. The Labs have also made it easier for startups to contact Deutsche Bank and showcase their solutions, particularly given its global presence, with bases in Berlin, London, New York, Palo Alto and Singapore.

The Labs experts additionally offer support to fintechs to help them understand banks’ needs and their regulatory requirements. Startups are also taught how to navigate processes such as supplier risk management, a necessity for the adoption of any new technology. During the selection process, solutions from each candidate are evaluated and weighted against predetermined requirements. The technologies are then tested in a controlled manner and once one is chosen, the Innovation Labs work with the provider to execute and adopt the solution.

To date, the Innovation Labs have discovered over 3,500 startups, while in 2019 alone, 60% of discoveries came from the Americas. One success story is the integration of a cognitive automation tool that uses machine learning to scan and process hundreds of thousands of documents consisting of unstructured data. “The great thing with that solution is that it saves costs, it actually increases revenues since we can scale the business, from a risk perspective it reduces risk as manual errors are reduced, and you have an audited digital trail,” says Joerg Landsch, head of innovation in the Americas at Deutsche Bank.