Swiss banking group Vontobel is teaming with T-Systems, the IT services unit of Deutsche Telekom, to establish a joint venture that will provide outsourced securities back office services to other banks.
The new unit, called VonsysVontobel Solutions, will provide outsourced back office services - including securities execution, settlement and administration services - to banks in Switzerland and Liechtenstein.
Under the agreement Vontobel will provide banking services, including execution and custody service, to client banks while T-Systems will be responsible for IT and application management. Vontobel says it will use the Avaloq platform to provide the banking services.
Vontobel already provides transaction and global custody services to banks in the region. The bank began managing Raiffeisen Switzerland's execution and global custody functions in 2000.
Commenting on the JV, Herbert Scheidt, CEO, Vontobel says: "As a bank specialising in wealth and asset management, we are ideally placed to make our tried-and-tested securities platform available to other banks in future.
"The expansion of our competencies in taking on parts of the value chain in the securities business will generate valuable benefits for our client banks. Over the medium term, it will also lead to a further increase in our earnings while at the same time reducing our unit costs."
Gregor Stücheli, CEO T-Systems Schweiz, says: "Vontobel with its experience in the securities business and T-Systems with its experience in providing infrastructure and application management solutions for banks are the ideal partners to help bring about a breakthrough in the securities sourcing business in Switzerland and Liechtenstein."