IT services group Computacenter is reporting two major desktop outsourcing contracts with UK banks HBOS and Abbey National.
In a pre-close trading update, Computacenter reported a substantial outsourcing contract with Abbey National, valued at more than £70 million over 5 years.
Abbey was known to be looking at outsourcing as a key element in a £100 million cost-cutting drive. The Computeacenter contract was signed on Friday and Abbey is breaking the news to staff before releasing further information. Details are sketchy, but the bank is understood to have outsourced desktop support and managed services for 35,000 seats across its entire network
Seperately, the vendor is going public on a three-year, "eight-figure" contract to manage IT desktops for HBOS. The deal, signed last year, covers 44,500 seats at the merged group's head office locations in Edinburgh and West Yorkshire, as well as several call centres and its online banking division.
The agreement marks an ongoing effort by HBOS to consolidate and streamline operations across the former Halifax/Bank of Scotland groups. Computacenter formerly provided consultancy and systems integration services to Bank of Scotland.
The HBOS deal is the latest in a series of desktop outsourcing agreements struck by UK financial services companies. Alliance & Leicester recently announced a three-year £20 million desktop support deal with Fujitsu, while Barclays last month signed a seven-year $350 million contract for outsourced desktop services with EDS.