Having a large IT center in St. Petersburg leaves Deutsche Bank highly exposed to Russian sanctions. As a result, it has decided to take a bold action.
Deutsche Bank brought several hundred Russian computer scientists to Berlin, as reported by Germany’s citing anonymous sources.
The bank operated a large technology center in St. Petersburg, Russia, for years. With Russia’s war of aggression against Ukraine and the West’s sanctions, the hub comprising some 1,500 programmers, previously made headlines.
The number of staff there represents about a quarter of investment banking IT specialists.
At the time, the report stated there was no code or data housed in the Russian Technology Center (RTC), and after a three-day stress test last week, Deutsche Bank told regulators there was no immediate systemic risk to its IT infrastructure.
A failure of the center would be a major blow to Deutsche Bank. By moving to Berlin, Deutsche Bank reduces the risk of losing an enormous amount of expertise. In the meantime, the major Swiss banks UBS and Credit Suisse have also moved to withdraw staff from Russia or put them on leave.
