BPER Banca Group, the third largest banking group in Italy, has signed with IBM (NYSE: IBM) a four-year agreement to help accelerate the bank’s evolution into a truly digital business.
The four-year agreement will expand the bank’s hybrid cloud strategy to modernize its technology infrastructure and applications, combining the security, scalability and reliability of IBM Cloud for Financial Services to help meet the compliance requirements of the heavily regulated industry with the resiliency of IBM z16 and Red Hat OpenShift, a leading Kubernetes platform. As security and privacy remain paramount for financial institutions, this highly secured hybrid cloud environment will allow the bank to manage mission critical data, services and workflows across multiple platforms to improve operational efficiency and drive innovation.
“Innovation and digitalization are two of the main priorities on which BPER Banca is focusing,” said Elvio Sonnino, Deputy General Manager and Chief Operating Officer of BPER Banca. “The banking sector is undergoing rapid transformation and the benefits and potentials that emerge today from the dynamics of technological innovation are very wide. The collaboration with IBM will allow us to carry out an important technological upgrade, to achieve greater synergy of processes and to expand the offer of quality omnichannel services, to respond even more effectively to the ever-increasing needs of customers “.
IBM Consulting worked closely with BPER Banca Group and provided the expertise and capabilities to design the modernization strategy that will now support the banking group’s strategic growth plan for 2022-2025 called ‘BPER e-volution’. The banking group is evolving its business model to prepare for a digital future alongside a focus on ESG and the integration of its latest acquisition – Italian bank Banca Carige.
IBM Consulting will now provide additional services and deep skills to help modernize and manage the banking group’s core banking systems and applications in an open, secured way to facilitate compliance with industry regulations. This includes incorporating the built-in security and compliance controls from IBM Cloud for Financial Services to help companies address regulatory barriers impeding IT landscape and application modernization and reduce third- and fourth- party risk throughout the supply chain.
To meet the needs of digitally savvy customers, AI-powered software capabilities will be incorporated to develop personalized digital services across multiple channels in a fast and secured way. This allows Gruppo BPER to unlock new value by expanding the volume of digital products sold via automated journeys, creating better omnichannel experiences for customers.
“IBM will support BPER Banca as it accelerates its strategic growth path with open, secured technologies to both modernize and innovate – helping the business to deliver faster, seamless, and compliant digital banking experiences,” said Stefano Rebattoni, General Manager IBM Italy. “The modernization strategy will combine an expanded hybrid cloud approach with new software capabilities boosted by artificial intelligence, built and managed with IBM’s deep industry expertise to help BPER Banca achieve its transformation goals and improve customer experience.”
