AI is helping Deutsche Bank cut some smaller corporate lending decisions from weeks to minutes, technology chief Marie-Jeanne Deverdun said in an interview published on 26 October, Reuters reported from Frankfurt. The lending project went live in summer 2026 and is also shortening some decisions for multinational companies from months to weeks, she said.
Key points
- Deverdun said AI has reduced some smaller corporate lending decisions from weeks to minutes.
- Some decisions involving multinational companies now take weeks rather than months, she said.
- The bank has built ADA, an internal platform for developing and controlling AI agents.
- Deutsche Bank plans more than €2.5 billion ($2.80 billion) in technology spending between 2026 and 2028.
Deverdun describes the lending decisions
Deverdun, who joined Deutsche Bank’s management board in 2026, distinguished smaller companies from borrowers with more complex structures. “For smaller corporates, which are less complicated in their setup and their legal structure, we’re talking weeks to minutes,” she said. Her account concerned some lending decisions, rather than every application handled by the bank.
For multinational companies, Deverdun put the change in a different range: months to weeks for some decisions. Both figures describe the time taken to reach a lending decision. The smaller-company figure therefore marks the sharper reduction she reported, while the multinational figure concerns a longer process even after the project went live.
ADA puts Deutsche Bank agents under oversight
Deverdun said Deutsche Bank had built ADA, an internal platform named after computing pioneer Ada Lovelace. The bank uses it to develop, monitor and control AI agents. She said ADA lets Deutsche Bank oversee what those agents do, manage the associated risks and move between AI models as the technology changes.
Deverdun said the bank is preparing for direct interaction between its agents and those used by clients. She described clear accountability and controls as part of that preparation. Her comments place the oversight functions of ADA alongside the bank’s work on agents that could operate across the boundary between Deutsche Bank and its customers.
Christian Sewing, Deutsche Bank’s chief executive, has said he wants to make it “a truly AI-powered bank”. The bank is still streamlining an array of technology platforms. Sewing’s predecessor described its systems in 2015 as “disjointed, cumbersome and far too often just plain incompatible”.
€2.5 billion plan sits beside rival AI programmes
Deutsche Bank plans to spend more than €2.5 billion ($2.80 billion) on technology between 2026 and 2028. JPMorgan, by comparison, has budgeted $20 billion for 2026, Reuters reported. The figures cover different periods and describe technology budgets, while Deverdun’s lending figures concern the time taken for particular decisions.
Other banks have described different uses of AI. Barclays said it was cutting around 5,000 jobs, or 5 per cent of its workforce, in 2026 as it uses the technology. Citigroup has said AI was developing products at lower cost and up to 40 per cent faster. Those measures concern staffing and product development, respectively, rather than corporate lending decisions.
Deverdun makes cyber risk her priority
Banking regulators are stepping up efforts to contain AI risk as lenders deploy the technology. Major US banks have begun blocking third-party AI agents from customer accounts because of concerns that such agents could harm the banking system and the institutions holding customers’ money, Reuters reported.
Deverdun said Deutsche Bank is watching the debate over the pace of AI development. She called management of cyber risk her “number one priority” and said the bank is committing resources and budget to protect itself against threats associated with new technologies.
