A year ago, TreasurUp joined the 18th LBBW Deri-X Forum in Stuttgart for the third time, testing our digital business banking tools with Sparkasse specialists and their business clients. The Deri-X Forum 2026, the 19th edition, brought us back with a sharper question on stage: what should AI do for the relationship between a Sparkasse and its business clients?
As Arjan de Bruijn, Co-founder and COO of TreasurUp, wrote afterwards: “Almost 300 Sparkasse sales professionals were in the room, and the energy was great.” This recap covers the panel, the belief TreasurUp brought to it, and how that belief shapes Client Pulse.
In brief
At the Deri-X Forum 2026, TreasurUp made one point on the AI panel: AI should not replace the relationship between the Sparkasse and its clients. It should make that relationship stronger. Client Pulse, the sales intelligence TreasurUp is building, puts that into practice. The adviser stays at the centre.
Back at LBBW for the Deri-X Forum 2026
Arjan de Bruijn and Olli Lämsä, Product Manager, represented TreasurUp at LBBW’s yearly Deri-X event. The forum brings Sparkasse business client specialists together around currency and interest rate management. This year, AI was on the main stage too.
The partnership behind it runs deep. TreasurUp provides the white-labelled FX front-end that LBBW rolled out across the Sparkassen. Rainer Widmann, Manager of FX, Rates, and Commodities at LBBW, described the rollout: “we implemented an FX front-end for the entire Sparkassen group within just 4 months”. The full story is in the LBBW case study.
Inside the Deri-X Forum 2026 AI panel
Manuel Guggemos, Team Head Innovation & Sales Support at LBBW, hosted the panel “The Future of AI: Next Level Banking?”. After a keynote by Sahil Suri, Ph.D., Head of Cloud, AI Banking and Capital Markets at Google, on current trends, Marius Sturm of the DSGV and Arjan de Bruijn of TreasurUp discussed the next steps for AI in the financial industry.
The AI panel at the 19th LBBW Deri-X Forum in Stuttgart, with speakers from LBBW, Google, the DSGV and TreasurUp.
Manuel summed up where the discussion landed: “In addition to technical excellence and real value creation, security and people in change also play a decisive role in the use of new technology.”
AI should not replace the relationship
TreasurUp brought one belief to the panel. In Arjan’s words: “AI should not replace the relationship between the Sparkasse and its clients. It should make that relationship stronger.”
The reasoning is practical. A Sparkasse adviser covers more business clients than anyone can watch week by week. AI can do the watching and the preparation. The adviser keeps the conversation, the judgement and the relationship.
It is the same principle behind our wider view of agentic AI in business banking: agents prepare, a person decides.
Client Pulse: sales intelligence for Sparkasse sales teams
That is why we are building Client Pulse: sales intelligence that helps Sparkasse sales teams know exactly which client needs which action at which moment. The right conversation, at the right time.
The Client Pulse banner at the Deri-X Forum 2026: Näher am Kunden. Automatisiert. (Closer to the client. Automated.)
Client Pulse reads the behavioural data the business banking channel already produces and monitors every client automatically each week. It flags clients who are at risk, ready to automate or ready to expand, and prepares a briefing before each call. The current build reads FX behaviour.
Client Pulse prepares. It does not decide, trade or contact clients. The adviser makes the final call.
At the forum, the Client Pulse banner carried three promises: monitor every client automatically, strengthen the relationship and prepare faster for every call. It continues a thread from 2025, when TreasurUp showed its latest Bank Sales Dashboards to Sparkasse experts at the same event.
What Sparkasse sales professionals told us
We had many open conversations with sales professionals about their daily challenges and what would really help them. That input goes straight into what we build next.
That is how TreasurUp has worked with LBBW and the Sparkassen from the start. After the 2025 Experts Day, Arjan described the sessions as a wealth of feedback that helped TreasurUp tailor its products further to banks and their business clients.
What comes next
The discussion continues in November at the DSGV Fachtagung Internationales Firmenkundengeschäft, in a masterclass with Rainer Widmann, Manuel Guggemos and TreasurUp.
Thanks again to Rainer Widmann, Manuel Guggemos and the LBBW team for having us.
Frequently asked questions
What is the LBBW Deri-X Forum?
The Deri-X Forum is LBBW’s yearly event in Stuttgart for Sparkasse business client specialists, covering topics such as currency and interest rate management. The 2026 edition, the 19th, brought almost 300 Sparkasse sales professionals together and put the future of AI in banking on the panel agenda.
What did TreasurUp say about AI at the Deri-X Forum 2026?
That AI should not replace the relationship between the Sparkasse and its clients. It should make that relationship stronger. AI should take over the monitoring and preparation, so that advisers spend their time on the right conversations with business clients.
What is Client Pulse?
Client Pulse is sales intelligence from TreasurUp, delivered inside the bank’s own business banking channel. It monitors every client automatically each week, flags who needs attention and why, and prepares a briefing for the next conversation. The current build reads FX behaviour.
Does Client Pulse act on its own?
No. Client Pulse prepares briefings, ranked priorities and suggested talking points. It does not decide, trade or contact clients. The adviser decides what happens next, and the bank owns the agent, including its branding, data and model choice.
See Client Pulse on your own client book
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