Germany's Deutsche Bank has used artificial intelligence to cut the review time for some corporate loans from weeks to minutes.

Cryptopolitan, a blockchain media outlet, reported on Oct. 26 that Deutsche Bank has been running a new AI system since this summer. The time-saving effect was particularly noticeable among small companies with simple corporate structures.

Marijan de Verdier (마리잔 드베르댕), Deutsche Bank's chief technology officer, said AI shortened processing time by quickly analysing information needed for reviews. In the past, it sometimes took several months for multinational companies to receive loan review results, but they can now get an answer within weeks.

Chief executive Christian Sewing (크리스티안 제빙) has laid out a plan to turn Deutsche Bank into an AI-based bank. The internal platform underpinning that effort is called ADA. Named after computing pioneer Ada Lovelace, the platform supports the development, monitoring and control of AI agents. It also handles security risk management and switching between different AI models.

Deutsche Bank is also reviewing ways to connect the bank's AI system with customers' personal assistant-style AI. The plan is to expand some banking tasks from human-to-human responses to interaction between AI agents. De Verdier said the bank is preparing for an economy in which customers' agents and the bank's agents interact, and aims to make accountability and control mechanisms clear in the process.

Rival banks are also expanding their use of AI. Britain's Barclays is pushing for about 5,000 job cuts as it increases its adoption of AI. Citi said technology adoption has sped up product development by 40 percent and reduced costs.

Still, Deutsche Bank's AI shift also faces the task of overhauling ageing technology infrastructure. In 2015, management at the time pointed to dispersed legacy systems that were incompatible with one another as a problem. After Russia's invasion of Ukraine, the bank also faced the burden of relocating technology staff who were based in Russia.

Deutsche Bank is applying AI to loan reviews to shorten processing time, while broadening its use through its internal ADA platform. To realise plans to connect customers' AI with the bank's systems, security controls and a risk management framework also appear to be needed.