AI cuts some Deutsche Bank corporate loan decisions to minutes
For the head of commercial lending at a regional bank
Deutsche Bank's technology chief Marie-Jeanne Deverdun said in an interview with Reuters, in a report datelined Frankfurt on Oct. 26, that AI is helping the bank cut decisions for some smaller corporate lending from weeks to minutes.1
Deverdun said smaller corporates are less complicated in their setup and legal structure, which is why the decisions move from weeks to minutes for them.1 The project went live in the summer, she said, and the bank built an internal AI platform called ADA to develop, monitor and control AI agents.1
The project also cuts the time for some lending decisions for multinational corporations from months to weeks, according to Deverdun, who joined Deutsche Bank's management board this year.1
Deverdun said ADA lets the bank oversee agent activity, manage risk and switch between AI models as technology evolves.1
Deverdun said the bank is preparing for an agentic economy where its agents interact with clients' agents "with clear accountability and the right controls".1
Reuters reported that Deutsche Bank plans more than €2.5 billion ($2.80 billion) in tech spending between 2026 and 2028, while JPMorgan is budgeting $20 billion for 2026, and that major US banks have begun blocking third-party AI agents from operating inside customer accounts.1
Banks are using AI to shorten credit decisions where legal structures are simple, and complex borrowers still take weeks. Executives planning for agent-to-agent dealings with clients will need to define accountability and controls first, and US peers are already restricting outside agents.
Our take. Deutsche Bank now decides some small-corporate loans in minutes and is building for its agents to deal with clients' agents. Your borrowers will ask why your credit memo still takes weeks, and who answers when their bot calls.
Action. Commercial credit: Set a decision-time target for simple small-business loans and define approval authority for requests submitted by client AI agents.
What our records say
Deutsche Bank's AI strategy, set in Frankfurt, is an AI-enabled operating model by 2028, applied in the US mainly through corporate-bank credit processes and trust-and-agency work.1 A Frankfurt-run AI programme with hard 2028 targets, applied in the US mainly through corporate-bank credit processes and trust-and-agency work, including acting as agent on AI data-centre financings.1
From our records
- Deutsche Bank (U.S.)bank · latest Farsight announces on-premise deployment in Europe and North America (Oct 2026) · vendors GitHub Copilot · enforcement 7 actions since 2016; latest Federal Reserve written agreement + cease and desist order + civil money penalty, $186 million (Jul 2023)
- JPMorgan Chasebank · latest Q3 2026 call: outside AI agents stay blocked; AI spend put near $700 million (Oct 2026) · vendors Kasisto, ChatGPT Enterprise, Claude · enforcement 5 actions since 2016; latest CFPB civil action (lawsuit, dismissed with prejudice) (Dec 2024)
Sources
- ReportDeutsche Bank Leverages AI to Speed Up Corporate Loan Decisions Globalbankingandfinance