EDS renews contracts with major financial services firms

EDS today announced add-on and renewed contracts valued at more than $85 million for information technology (IT) services with major financial services firms in Europe and the US. Also, EDS convened a Financial Services Forum for industry leaders at its worldwide headquarters this week.

Many of the world`s top financial services firms look to EDS for IT services that allow them to extend their ability to meet today`s business needs. EDS leverages scalability and existing global technology and support infrastructure across its client base, establishing a cost competitive structure giving clients the best value for their investments.

Today`s announcements, financial terms of which were not disclosed, include:

* An additional seven-year contract extension with Amlin, the provider of insurance and reinsurance for aviation, direct marine, property, casualty and commercial motor. This follows the successful completion of the first three years of a five-year IT infrastructure outsourcing agreement to provide managed services including helpdesk, infrastructure and application support, and service management for its two locations in London. Amlin outsourced its London-based IT operations to EDS in 2000.

* An additional four-year agreement with Banca Antonveneta Group for desktop support services. Banca Antonveneta Group is one of the leading Italian banking groups and provides its clientele products and services including traditional retail banking, private banking, asset management, bank assurance and merchant banking. EDS will support and manage the 12 000 desktops, 1 300 servers and 1 200 ATMs in more than 1 000 locations across Italy. EDS also provides the bank with business continuity services.

* A nine-year agreement with Bank of America for additional managed network outsourcing services. EDS has helped Bank of America transform its voice and data network infrastructure by providing the company with stronger and more flexible operating platforms.

"EDS is the leader in deploying technology-enabled services for financial institutions globally, which is demonstrated by these additional contracts with existing clients," said Rob Baldock, vice-president and global leader, EDS Financial Services Global Industry. "Our core specialty is transforming the way our clients do business to better meet customer and shareholder demands so they have the infrastructure to support expansion without breaking the bank."

Financial services executives, regulatory agencies and government representatives have convened at EDS world headquarters in Plano, Texas, this week as part of the EDS Information Exchange - Financial Industry Executive Forum, to tackle some of the industry`s most compelling issues including enterprise risk management, customer value management and business transformation. Details about the event can be found at http://www.eds.com/financial/fc_client.shtml#client.

EDS in the financial services industry

As a pioneer of IT services for the financial services industry, EDS provides a wide range of outsourced services from payments and securities processing to applications development and network, customer relationship management and helpdesk services to all sectors of the industry.

EDS`s work in the worldwide financial services industry accounted for approximately 14% of the company`s revenue in 2002. More than 15 000 EDS employees work on finance-related projects in 29 countries for clients such as Abbey National, ABN AMRO, Aegon, Aon, Bank of America, Bank of Canada, Bank One, Barclays PLC, CIBC, Commonwealth Bank Group, KBC, Korea First Bank, Lloyds TSB, Royal Bank of Scotland, Visa and Westpac.