Airflow in Action: Inside Deutsche Bank’s Regulated Data Workflows

Christian Förnges, a Data Engineer at Deutsche Bank, presented a session at the Airflow Summit highlighting how Apache Airflow is used to manage critical data workflows in the highly regulated banking environment of Deutsche Bank. The talk emphasized the bank's need to balance compliance, security, and operational reliability, operating across both cloud and on-premises infrastructures. Due to strict regulations, Deutsche Bank faces lengthy approval processes for new technologies and requires complete auditability and control in its data processing, particularly for anti-financial crime efforts and regulatory reporting. Airflow serves as a centralized orchestration tool, ensuring data immutability and traceability through unique run identifiers and versioning, which is crucial for audits. It supports both batch and streaming workflows, acting as a control plane that allows the bank to maintain operational leverage despite restricted access. The session also touched on how Astronomer complements Airflow by providing flexible deployment options that adhere to regulatory and security constraints, enabling both cloud and on-premise executions without compromising data security.