Deutsche Bank - Skills for the Future

Deutsche Bank is deeply committed to building talented and diverse teams that drive business results. Critical to this is our strong focus on workforce transformation and skills development. Our people are our most important asset, and we believe that continuous employee development is a key cornerstone of our success. In addition to the challenging work that we offer our employees, we also support their growth through trainings, tools, and various other resources. Last year we made over EUR 37 million investment in training for the benefit of our employees globally.

As the workplace becomes more digital and banks become more technology-driven, it is crucial that we make technology skills more mainstream across our platform. This is especially important as our bank strives to unlock the entrepreneurial potential of our staff to prepare them, and our business, for a digital future. 

We launched our BOOST (Build, Operate, Own, Share, and Transform) program in 2019, to upskill our Investment Bank Operations colleagues with practical digital skills to drive efficiency for the bank and keep pace with the rapid digitalization of our industry. Deutsche Bank was the first institution in Singapore to launch a program like this focused on Investment Banking Operations. Through a mix of virtual training on topics such as Artificial Intelligence, Design Thinking, Coding, and Data Analytics, as well as incubator sessions culminating in a “Shark Tank Finale” competition, participants are encouraged to think innovatively and creatively. Each participant spends a minimum of 500 hours on training, via a mix of on-the-job as well as transformation-related problem-solving projects for the bank. 

Following the completion of the formal BOOST program, participants are encouraged to apply their new skills and design thought processes to their day to day work, to transform how they operate and think in a refreshed way. This cultural mindset shift will contribute to us shaping the career transformation of Operations engineers. Our BOOST program participants will help accelerate Operations becoming a data-driven, intelligent enterprise, ready to shape and contribute to the Future of Work.

We have since expanded the program beyond Singapore to more than 10 locations in Asia Pacific, as well as added more experience-based opportunities for participants to apply their new skills not just on the job but also within the broader community. 

This year, we have partnered with internationally acclaimed NGO Ashoka, supporting social entrepreneurs and facilitating change for good with networks and innovative ideas. Utilizing BOOST content and appointed BOOST mentors, our teams support women social entrepreneurs in Indonesia, Malaysia, Philippines, and Thailand through a three-month capacity building program, as they prepare to expand their operations and strengthen impact as they tackle the challenge of climate change and environmental sustainability.

Learning has long been a key element of our people strategy at Deutsche Bank. It is important for us to help our employees get better at getting better. We strive to do this by creating an engaging, personalized, and varied learner experience accessible to all employees, at every stage of their career. We launched our digital learning platform, Connect2Learn, in 2017. This makes our learning offerings available irrespective of location or time, to promote a culture shift towards continuous learning. Our employees globally have availed themselves of these resources, which include immersive virtual classroom experiences, world-class digital libraries, and curated multimedia resources covering a wide range of topics such as Leadership & Management, Stakeholder & Client, Digital, Agile, Culture & Inclusion, and Banking & Finance, among others.

Technology in Finance Immersion Programme (TFIP)

We are proud to have partnered with IBF in the TFIP ever since its inception, which supports the transformation of Singapore’s local workforce through upskilling for emerging and in-demand roles. We are very glad to be able to provide on-the-job training and relevant industry experience and exposure to aspiring candidates, while also meeting our own goals of discovering and bringing in diverse talent who will grow their skills, experience, and career with our bank. In 2020 we increased our cohort of participants, who gained highly sought skills in the areas of cybersecurity, software development, data analytics, and artificial intelligence.