Spain’s Banco Sabadell has hired IBM for a 1 billion euro ($1.11 billion) overhaul of its IT systems over the next ten years, the companies said on Wednesday.
The bank seeks to makes its computer systems leaner and more efficient to handle more data and transactions from customers´ mobile phones, said Miguel Montes, Sabadell´s director of operations and people.
IBM is offering its hybrid cloud services developed by its recently acquired Red Hat unit, said Marta Martinez, IBM’s head for Spain and other southern European countries.
Traditional banks are investing huge amounts to upgrade their IT systems to keep up with the rising competition from new on-line banks, with no branches and no physical infrastructure, which are able to offer cheap, mobile-only banking services.
IBM will also help Sabadell’s U.K. bank TSB, which experienced severe IT glitches in the past years.
The bank will open a new technology center in Edinburgh where it will handle all the British unit’s data.
