In 2011 Deutsche Bank were the first cash management bank to set up a banking ‘App Store’ with the launch of their Autobahn App Market which they describe as “our single-sign on, one stop shop for our clients to access:

• Powerful Deutsche Bank research, commentary and analytics
• Seamless electronic execution and liquidity across multiple asset classes and markets
• Advanced transaction banking and post-trade services.”

There are now over 180 Apps from across the bank on the Autobahn App Market, with more than 50 for Global Transaction Banking clients covering cash management, trade finance, securities and issuer services.

The focus over the last few years has been to 1) make the Apps more user friendly with more security & authentication, and 2) make them deliver better user experience

This is clearly working as the number of Autobahn users has grown very rapidly recently, from 20k users in May 2017 to over 50k users globally in June 2018, and on track to double this number again. 

Future Development and support

Deutsche Bank’s strategy with their Autobahn App Market development is to delight their users as they manage and optimise their cash management. Working with their clients to develop and refine Autobahn APPs, the aim is to make all Apps as intuitive and as easy to use as possible.

Through the Cash Inquiry App clients can gain instant access to their EUR, USD, GBP and multicurrency high value payments, including FX4Cash and SEPA Payments. Using smartcards and digipasses, clients are able to initiate time critical instructions in a secure way. Deutsche Bank continues to add new features to its services, for example, integrated into the Cash Inquiry App is a new SWIFT gpi payment tracking feature for US and Germany so that corporate treasurers can now for the first time see exactly where the cross border payment is and how many minutes it took to get to the end beneficiary:

Source & Copyright©2018 - Deutsche Bank 

Martin Runow, Global Head of Client Connectivity Products at Deutsche Bank’s Global Transaction Banking division explains, “It takes a number of years to build critical mass and encourage clients to move across to new ways of working, but we are very pleased with the traction we are having – which is under-pinned by our ever-present focus on customer service.”

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CTMfile take: Deutsche Bank’s experience with their Autobahn Market shows that APPs are not easy develop. They require continual refining and tweaking to ensure they are simple and a delight to use. When this is delivered, Deutsche Bank have shown that Apps can make the corporate treasury department’s life much more efficient and effective.