BT has confirmed a five-year, £578 million telecommunications outsourcing agreement with Credit Suisse that will involve the transfer of 231 of the Swiss bank's employees and 50 contractors.
BT is partnering with Swisscom to service the contract - news of which was first leaked last week - which will run for a minimum five-years with the option of extending the term to seven years.
The agreement paves the way for Credit Suisse to farm out and upgrade its telecomms infrastructure at a lower cost and with less capital investment. The Swiss bank says it expects to see more use of public mobile, Internet technologies and advanced exchange connectivity across its trading and private banking operations.
"These technologies will help Credit Suisse further reduce latency and improve trader effectiveness and collaboration in its investment banking activities," says the bank in a statement, "while making greater use of high technology customer relationship management solutions in the personal banking market."
In addition, the deal specifies the creation of a "multimillion pound innovation fund", sponsored by all three parties, that will finance the development of new technologies for use by the bank.
Tom Sanzone, CIO and executive board member at Credit Suisse says: "The integration of telecommunications connectivity and remote access for our team is becoming ever more important. BT, in partnership with Swisscom, have developed a proposition that we believe will yield a considerable advantage in an increasingly competitive marketplace, while allowing us to better focus on our core business."