Deutsche Bank, Germany’s largest bank and a leading European private bank, has signed a global licensing agreement with cloud-native banking technology company, Thought Machine. The bank will adopt Thought Machine’s core banking platform, Vault Core, as the technology foundation for its retail modernisation strategy.

Following a multi-year evaluation, Deutsche Bank selected Thought Machine for its technical performance, enterprise scalability, and proven track record with global institutions. Vault Core’s modular architecture cleanly separates cloud hosting from product logic, enabling Deutsche Bank to progressively retire legacy systems, deploy products faster, and integrate AI capabilities, all while reducing operational complexity and maintaining strict resilience.

Development work is already underway, with testing planned as a key milestone towards year-end. Systems will then operate in parallel throughout a transition period, with products migrating progressively from 2027 onwards to support a controlled rollout in Germany and ensure continuous service continuity.

This win comes on the heels of major financial and market milestones for Thought Machine. The company recently surpassed $100 million in ARR and total annual revenue, driven by a 57% year-on-year growth rate and achieving positive free cash flow. With Deutsche Bank joining its roster, Thought Machine now counts 20 global tier 1 banks as clients, firmly establishing itself as the leading cloud-native core banking provider for systemically important financial institutions worldwide.