IBM Signs C$30-Million IT Deal

Laurentian Bank (www.laurentianbank.ca) and IBM Canada Ltd announced an estimated C$30-million [Canadian dollars], six-year agreement under which IBM (www.ibm.com) will manage the Bank's IT operations.

These operations support the bank's back office along with its ABM services as well as the systems supporting wealth management, mutual funds and the bank's commercial business lines. This agreement will ensure that Laurentian Bank can scale its IT operations capacity as needed, paying only for what it uses.

This agreement builds upon the existing relationship between IBM and Laurentian and provides the bank with a new level of flexibility in the management of its IT operations to support the bank's growth plans. It extends a 4 year managed IT operations agreement between IBM and Laurentian for another 6 years.

"If there's a surge in Laurentian's needs or a large increase in customer inquiries, for instance during the busy RRSP season, IBM can provide the additional IT capacity with a turn of the switch," said Denis Chalifour, Director of IBM Global Services, Quebec. "With our industry expertise, we can offer new technology that increases the power and flexibility of the IT resources the bank needs, while charging Laurentian only for the resources it actually uses."

In 2004, IBM and Laurentian announced another agreement to support the bank's growth plans. They have been working together to install some 200 state-of-the-art automated banking machines throughout Quebec, enabling the bank to offer new banking services.

"We have selected IBM to provide managed IT operations as we grow our business because they have a proven track record with our bank," said Philippe Duby, Chief Information Officer, Laurentian Bank.

IBM is the world's largest information technology (IT) company and provider of IT services, as well as a preeminent technology partner to the world's financial services industry.