Interview with Christian Rhino, CIO of Private Bank at Deutsche Bank

RHINO An impressive example of the scale of our digitalization projects is the launch of our new online and mobile banking services, which we successfully completed in August last year. We completely revamped the technical infrastructure and created a modern, cloud-based platform that is being used jointly by all our brands in Germany for the first time. This will enable us to develop new digital products and services much more quickly and efficiently across all brands in the future. 

Successfully implementing such a transformation requires enormous joint efforts. Several hundred colleagues were on duty during the final migration weekend alone. But the decisive factor was the months of close cooperation between business areas such as the Private Customer Bank and the experts from my technology division. This interaction is what makes projects of this magnitude possible in the first place.

RHINO At our Investor Day in November 2025, we announced that we would be investing around €900 million in our Private Banking business over the next three years, including in IT, operations, and AI. The main driver behind these investments is the fundamental modernization of our operating model. Today, we still work with 15 different core banking systems worldwide in our retail banking business. In the future, we will consolidate this landscape into two modern, cloud-based platforms – one for our broad retail banking business, personal banking, and one for wealth management. 

A key accelerator in this process is agentic AI: it supports us in areas such as code translation and data management, and helps us to modernize our technology more quickly. At the same time, we are significantly simplifying our application portfolio and plan to reduce the number of our applications by around 40 percent.

And we are investing specifically in technologies that enable our customers to enjoy seamless, intuitive, and personalized banking. One example: we are currently developing an AI-powered assistant that will give our customers a direct point of contact, so to speak, who can provide initial support with the functionalities available in our app. We plan to make this digital assistant available to our customers in the second half of the year. We will then continue to expand it so that it can also handle complicated banking processes.

RHINO It's easy to get that impression, but the opposite is true. AI should never be viewed in isolation, and we explicitly do not see it as a standalone project, but as an integral part of our overall technology and digital strategy. 

As I just explained, our major programs – from consolidating core banking systems and modernizing our application landscape to new, scalable cloud platforms – are essential for AI to realize its full potential. Without modern architecture, clean data, and a simpler operating model, many of the efficiency and growth levers offered by AI could not be leveraged at all.

RHINO Simplicity, speed, and personal relevance: these are the key benefits that customers will enjoy as a result of the digitization of banking. Many services are already fully digital and are used millions of times over. 

In the future, customers will expect even more personalized advice, automated standard processes, and contracts that can be concluded via smartphone. At the same time, financial services will become increasingly integrated into everyday life, for example in mobility or trading platforms. And despite maximum digitization, one thing remains central: personal advice will continue to play an important role in complex decisions.

RHINO We deliberately invest not only in technology, but also in our employees. After all, the greatest lever for the success of our digitalization lies in the organization as a whole. Employees and managers do not need to understand every technical detail, but they do need to develop a basic understanding of the possibilities offered by technology. 

This “tech literacy,” i.e., the ability to understand, evaluate, and use technology, is crucial for making the most of the opportunities offered by modern technologies. We are therefore focusing on building AI skills throughout the bank. This involves understanding what AI is, what it is not, and how to use it strategically. We offer training courses such as “GenAI Fundamentals” for all employees, regardless of their technical background. 

There is a great deal of curiosity and dynamism throughout the bank. We encourage this energy by strengthening collaboration between business and technology experts. Joint forums are where the best ideas emerge and receive the support they need to be implemented.