Why Deutsche Bank made this deal

On March 7, 2017, Frank Kuhnke was in a hurry. In an email, which the Deutsche Bank manager marks as important and strictly confidential, he asks his boss Christian Sewing if he can speak to him for half an hour the same day. It is about a deal whose timing is “unpleasant”, if not “impossible”, but which may fit “excellently” into the bank’s digital strategy. “Can you arrange that, please?” asks Kuhnke Sewing’s assistant, who receives the email along with several other Deutsche Bank executives.