Cognizant is to acquire bank-owned Finnish IT supplier Oy Samlink as part of a programme to implement a shared core banking platform for three of the country's savings banks.
US-based Cognizant has signed a multi-year agreement with Savings Banks Group, Oma Savings Bank Plc and POP Bank Group to construct a cloud-based shared ledger based on Temenos T24 and Savings Hub products.
As part of the agreement, Cognizant will acquire Oy Samlink Ab, the current technology services provider owned by Savings Banks Group (42%), Aktia Bank (22.56%), Oma Savings Bank (15.45%), Handelsbanken (7.53%), Posti Group (5.88%), POP Bank Group (5.24%) and several other minority shareholders.
The acquisition will provide Cognizant with a local pool of knowledgeable development talent and two delivery centres in Finland.
Oy Samlink's chairman, Tomi Närhinen says: “We needed a strategic partner with global scale, and proven success in modernizing banking IT systems and delivering the type of robust capabilities required to foster our collective digital transformation goals - a key part of which is the core banking platform renewal. This is the most significant digital transformation project to date in the banks’ histories,”
Santosh Thomas, president, global growth markets, Cognizant, adds: “We look forward to welcoming Oy Samlink Ab employees to Cognizant. We plan to establish banking and financial services’ centres of excellence at their facilities which will enhance Cognizant’s ability to serve clients across the Nordics, specifically, and in Europe as a whole.”