Deutsche Bank Reviews in City of London, England (UK)

Pros

Current stability. National champion therefore not likely to go under

Cons

Lack of potential movement between front and bank office. Pleasant building facades give way to shabby interiors.

Advice to Senior Management

Re-evalaute all graduates when they have spent some time in the company to see if they are competent for their current role or a better role.

Pros

Progression is on merit which is wonderful if you're good at what you do, also being able to move between divisions / offices is great. Personnally I have loved every minute of being at DB (currently for 5 years) and would recommend the bank to others. Hard work is required but hours are not as insane as other banks I have worked for (namely a large american one!)

Cons

Political environment and slow to get action quickly. PMO activity is limited to manager feedback only where I feel a full 360 review is a lot more beneficial to the overall picture.

Advice to Senior Management

Keep on track and remove some of the dead wood. I would also initiate a 360 PMO service

Pros

Large organization which equally large resources at a Global level. Overall package is very attractive with most of the people in a good competitive spirit

Cons

Large organization with slow decision making and too many layers of management and too many decision makers. Simple decisions can take ages. That cost both time and money and more importantly frustration as progress in key areas is sometimes slow. The large grown of the bank over the last number of years was not followed by a similar drive to and streamline and have a global management structure with an easier decision matrix

Advice to Senior Management

Need to look at on how they can streamline the decision makings within the bank and eliminate the need to make decisions based on non business reasons

Pros

Technology in Deutsche Bank is way behind pretty much every one of its competitors. Thus, if you join technology you can be a part bringing it up to speed with the competition, and gain lots of responsibility in the process.

Hours are 9-5.

Cons

Compensation is exceptionally poor for people who work in technology. Bonuses are entirely politics based. It doesn't matter how hard you work. You might come up with a trading algorithm or technology enhancement that enables the trading desk to increase PnL by 50% to £1m, but don't expect that to be reflected in your bonus. You're still getting a fixed 20% so my best advice is to go home at 5 and not make the extra effort.

The business side still has absolute control over the budget, changing it widely from +/- 10% EACH quarter. It's impossible to plan any kind of stable headcount.

Management is poor. If you come up with a great idea in DB make sure you keep it to yourself, because EVERYONE will steal it and give you no credit whatsoever.

There are lots of opportunities in DB, but no one is going to help you take them. You've got to play political games all the time.

The graduate scheme is pretty awful. HR have made the assumption that if you're a graduate you know nothing about either banking or technology. I learnt nothing in the time I had training. You also get lumbered with two "Change Management" projects, which are essentially a load busy work and a waste of time. You teams management won't give you support in doing this so you're going to end up working weekends on it.

Advice to Senior Management

Pay people who work in Technology at least the market rate and provide them with performance related bonuses. If you pay peanuts, you get monkeys.

Pros

The Deutsche Bank brand is brilliant - it is widely respected to DB's clients and because of this, it is also highly respected in the job markets. The name on your CV, particularly if you can mention investment banking related experience, is worth a great deal. In my opinion, the best reason to work for DB is it's global brand name. Compared to other investment banks, its salary is competitive. Another great reason to work for Deutsche Bank in the London office is the work life balance. Unlike other investment banks, it understands that you have a life outside work! For example, the social networks such as the family network are very active.

Cons

Although Deutsche Bank boasts of a "one bank" culture, this is far from the truth. The 1 bank brand is strong and it is worth recognising that there are roughly 80,000 employees at the firm; many of those work in the retail arm. Although the retail business keeps things going in a downturn, it makes the firm far too large to manage. Senior management is far too Germanic in their approach and fill your day with unproductive administration. For example, technology and business audits are continually carried out but due to cost constraints, resourcing is so tight that there is no time to address these. Some areas of the bank thrive but others consistently fail.

Advice to Senior Management

As mentioned above, Senior management need to get the resourcing balance right - they spend too much money covering their backs by spending money on audit whilst they need to spend money on core functions such as technology. Secondly attrition is a major concern - even in the current market environment (August 2008), collegues are leaving voluntarily. Thirdly, there are far too many contractors and consultants employed at the bank. These should be reduced as it is often the case that key contractors are kept as they "know too much" about critical systems. Finally, Senior Management should seek to "westernise" the company. The bank is still too bureaucratic and Germanic for the 21st century.