Design a real-time global cash visibility experience for mid-cap treasurers using Deutsche Bank's corporate banking portal.

Introduction

Deutsche Bank's Corporate Bank serves multinationals and German Mittelstand companies through cash management, trade finance and FX, delivered digitally via its corporate banking portal and the Autobahn electronic platform. Treasurers at mid-cap companies, typically with €200 million to €2 billion in revenue, often run accounts in 10–30 countries across several banks and still assemble their daily cash position in spreadsheets. The prompt asks us to design a real-time cash visibility experience for these treasurers. I'll scope the problem, explain why it matters for Deutsche Bank's "Global Hausbank" ambition, segment users, find pain points, propose a solution and define success metrics.

Step 1

Clarify Questions (3 minutes)

• Which clients are we designing for?

• Why it matters: Large multinationals already run treasury management systems (TMS) like SAP or Kyriba; mid-caps often do not.
• Hypothetical answer: Mid-cap corporates headquartered in Germany with subsidiaries in Europe, the US and Asia, including India.
• Impact: We design a portal-native experience rather than only an API feed.

• Are we showing only Deutsche Bank accounts or other banks too?

• Why it matters: Most mid-caps bank with three to six banks.
• Hypothetical answer: Both, using SWIFT MT940/942 and camt.052/053 statements received from other banks and API feeds where available.
• Impact: Data freshness will vary by source; the design must show it honestly.

• What does "real-time" mean here?

• Hypothetical answer: Intraday balances updated within minutes for Deutsche Bank accounts and SEPA Instant flows; other banks as frequently as their reporting allows.
• Impact: We need a freshness indicator per account.

• Is the goal engagement, revenue or retention?

• Hypothetical answer: Win operating-account and liquidity mandates, increase deposits held at Deutsche Bank.
• Impact: Success metrics tie to balances and mandates, not just log-ins.

Propose the Goal

Give mid-cap treasurers a trustworthy, single view of their global cash by 9 a.m. local time, so they can make funding and investment decisions inside Deutsche Bank's portal instead of in spreadsheets.

Define the Scope

• In scope: Multi-bank balance aggregation, intraday position, short-term forecast, alerts and one-click actions (sweeps, FX, deposits).
• Out of scope: Full TMS replacement, hedge accounting and ERP integration beyond file and API exports.