Aimed at improving client interactions, the move involves securing various ubiquitous chat apps within a secure platform that it funded.
In a drive to continuously simplify and improve client interactions through secure and compliant channels, Deutsche Bank has added more chat platforms such as Whatsapp and WeChat with its clients through a secure platform that it funded.
Following the successful introduction of the WeChat functionality in November 2019, more than 3 billion users can now securely communicate with Deutsche Bank employees, who due to regulatory requirements are restricted in the messaging platforms they can use.
Through secure messaging platform Symphony, Deutsche Bank employees can communicate with clients anytime, anywhere via their preferred chat application integrated into Symphony, while meeting stringent security and compliance criteria, such as surveillance and data retention.
Funding Symphony with TenCent
Deutsche Bank is a founding consortium member of Symphony, which is a Goldman Sachs-led product created to wean traders off Bloomberg’s chat function. The bank has participated in a number of funding rounds since Symphony’s inception, helping to grow and scale the platform.
From the outset, Deutsche Bank had been a supporter of a partnership between Symphony and Tencent to connect its internal users to the WeChat network. With the latest inclusion of WhatsApp as part of the Symphony platform, customers are expected to interact more easily with their clients, counterparties, and partners. Teams across Deutsche Bank’s Corporate, Investment and Private Banks will now engage with customers using a selection of chat applications to support customer-connectivity during the COVID-19 pandemic.
The ongoing COVID-19 pandemic has brought into sharp focus how important it is for banks to stay in close contact with clients to provide advice and expertise during this challenging period. Therefore, the bank’s traditional client interaction platforms such as email and telephone calls have had to be diversified.
Said Bernd Leukert, Chief Technology, Data and Innovation Officer, Deutsche Bank: “An important part of our technology strategy is to enable our people to securely meet our clients at a time and place of their choice, and bringing together Symphony and WhatsApp is a truly innovative way to do so.”
Stefan Hoops, Head of the Corporate Bank at Deutsche Bank, added: “The integration of WhatsApp with Symphony means we, and other businesses in the bank, can make interactions with our clients even easier when they need us most.”
