The German Federal Financial Supervisory Authority (BaFin) has observed considerable disturbances in the handling of customer business at “Postbank – a branch of Deutsche Bank AG”.

The regulator has confirmed that it is examining whether there are shortcomings at the institution that are relevant from a supervisory perspective. Numerous consumers have submitted complaints. BaFin is investigating the complaints as part of its mandate to protect collective consumer interests and will take relevant supervisory measures if appropriate.

Since the turn of the year (2022/2023), BaFin has observed considerable disturbances in the handling of customer business at Postbank. Alongside various disruptions to online and mobile banking and the limited availability of telephone customer services, the disturbances include long processing times for bank account attachment and inheritance matters, account closure/settlement and the repayment of savings deposits.

In particular, there have been considerable issues with the opening and management of accounts exempted from attachment (Pfändungsschutzkonten), which has had a substantial impact on customers in some cases.

BaFin expects the companies under its supervision to provide their services with the minimum possible disruption. As part of this, the availability of online banking must be ensured to allow customers to carry out banking transactions at all times. Institutions must also comply with the relevant statutory deadlines for the protection of customers, which include deadlines for setting up accounts exempted from attachment as well as for adjusting attachment exemption limits.

Furthermore, institutions must be able to process customer orders within a reasonable period of time, for example in the case of account attachment and inheritance matters.

BaFin reacted to the information about disturbances in the handling of customer business immediately and called upon the company to resolve its customer service issues as quickly as possible and comply with its statutory customer protection obligations.

BaFin is examining the causes behind the large number of affected customer transactions and the unusually large number of customer complaints so that it can take supervisory measures if appropriate.

The regulator notes that it has received an unusually large number of complaints about the above-mentioned disturbances in the handling of customer business and takes these complaints very seriously, particularly in view of the significant consequences for some customers.