It traces its origins to the Deutsche Girozentrale, established in 1918 as a hub for payments within the German savings banks system.

[3][4] Johann Christian Eberle [de] established the first giro association involving German savings banks, the Giroverband Sächsischer Gemeinden (lit.

DGZ was also tasked with short-term lending to regional giro associations that were members of the Deutscher Zentral-Giroverband, from 1924 the Deutscher Sparkassen- und Giroverband (DSGV), and to other German municipal associations, managing interest-bearing funds, buying and selling foreign exchange, and borrowing on their behalf.

In 1931, DGZ was reorganized together with the broader municipal banking system, and it received a statute (German: Satzung) of its own in 1932.

At the same time, the supervision of DGZ was transferred from the Interior Minister of Prussia to the national government of the Weimar Republic.

[8]: 92 Following the end of World War II, the DGZ head office, in East Berlin, was closed by the Soviet Military Administration.

In 1949, it was revived as Deutsche Kommunalbank in Düsseldorf, West Germany, but with a more limited mandate that was focused on short-term transactions.

[13] Later that year, Deka’s supervisory board instructed management to explore “deeper cooperation” with the bank from January 2020.