IBM and BNP Paribas have signed a EUR318 million, six-year agreement for their existing joint venture, BP²I, to handle the IT infrastructure operations of the French bank's Italian subsidiary, Banca Nazionale del Lavoro (BNL).
The joint venture partners claim BP²I will provide significant cost savings to the banking group by transforming BNL's IT infrastructure and aligning it with BNP Paribas' current infrastructure and standard processes. BNP says the move will also help to strengthen BNL's capabilities to better manage the globalisation requirements of the retail banking business.
The deal marks an expansion of the French bank's relationship with IBM, which began in 2004 when IBM proposed a new EUR1 billion IT infrastructure management deal for BNP Paribas' retail and insurance branches across France, leading to the creation of BNP Paribas Partners for Innovation (BP²I), a jointly-owned IT services company.
Hervé Gouëzel, président du conseil de stratégie et de surveillance at BP²I, comments: "As we progressively build a multi-domestic retail bank across Europe, it will be essential to create European competence centers in each country, along with aligned processes to leverage the IT operations, all of which will be made possible through BP²I."