Investment bank Credit Suisse is set to outsource its entire telecommunications infrastructure to BT under a seven year contract worth around SFr1.4 billion.
According to a Financial Times report, which cites people close to the situation, the deal will involve a "substantial" transfer of jobs.
The agreement covers management of voice and data communications at Credit Suisse's Zurich headquarters, as well as offices in London and the US, and the bank's global network of private and investment banking operations.
Credit Suisse, which is being advised by management consultants Accenture, spends around SFr250m a year on its telecoms infrastructure, says the report. Outsourcing management of its networks to a single supplier could save the bank up to SFr60m a year.
The deal is part of a broader SFr2.5bn cost-cutting plan led by the bank's chief executive Oswald Grübel. In the first nine months of 2006 Credit Suisse's cost base was 72% of its income, says the report, and the bank plans to reduce this to 65% over the next few years.
In October BT inked a deal with Alliance & Leicester (A&L) that will see it transform the UK bank's telecoms infrastructure into a single, fully managed converged voice and data network. The deal also included management of the bank's communications infrastructure from December, replacing a number of in-house managed contracts.