Deutsche Bank and Dresdner Bank will have their payments processed by Postbank. Preliminary agreements for this have now been signed by the three companies. The partners see this as an important step in implementing their strategic objectives and as an important signal for the consolidation of the German banking market. For the three banks' clients, nothing will change. Their accounts will continue to be kept, as before, with their respective banks. As a result of this agreement, Postbank will become one of the leading payments clearing houses in Germany.

A few days ago, Postbank announced it was examining the possibilities of an IPO within the next 18 months. For this reason, Professor Dr. Wulf von Schimmelmann, Chairman of the Board of Management of Deutsche Postbank AG, sees the transaction as "an important component of the planned IPO." It strengthens the bank’s new business field "Transaction Bank": "The capacity of our platform will be used more efficiently. Thus, we can present a win-win situation for everyone involved: our partners will be able to reduce their costs; we will be able to increase our revenues." Already today, Postbank is one of the big players in clearing payments, handling over 10 million transactions per day.

For Deutsche Bank, this is a further logical step in the concentration on its core businesses and represents a high-performance partnership. "Early on we signalized to the market that we wanted to achieve synergies in transaction banking. By contributing DB Payments to the cooperation, we are creating cost advantages for ourselves as well as a long-term strategic partnership," commented Hermann-Josef Lamberti, member of the Board of Managing Directors and COO of Deutsche Bank.

"This new partnership in payments processing is a significant element in the vigorous implementation of our program for the future of the 'New Dresdner'," said Dr. Herbert Walter, Chairman of the Board of Managing Directors of Dresdner Bank. "By taking this important step, we can structure our business operations more efficiently and concentrate fully on our clients.”

Postbank will execute the clearing and settlement of Deutsche Bank's and Dresdner Bank's payment transactions. To do so, Postbank will acquire DB Payments AG from Deutsche Bank as well as Dresdner Zahlungsverkehrsservice GmbH from Dresdner Bank. Further steps will be agreed by the banks before year's end. The partners also plan to develop a joint SAP-based IT platform. Postbank's objective for the near future is to process payment transactions for additional partners as well.

Furthermore, the Postbank is examining whether its securities processing could be carried out in the future by european transaction bank AG.

Contract negotiations are scheduled to be concluded by the end of the year 2003. These planned agreements are, as usual, subject to the approval of the relevant committees and regulatory authorities.