Financial markets: Press releases

Benefits in strategic, IT technology and financial areas

Estimated to deliver operating cost savings for ACI of $25 million to $30 million

HSH Nordbank and its subsidiary PLUS BANK have signed a five-year IT services agreement with IBM valued at over 100 million euros. IBM will take over the management and transformation of part of the German banks' information technology.

IBM will acquire Schlumberger's Business Continuity Services unit. The strategic acquisition will increase IBM's capabilities in helping clients ensure business continuity, and providing IT infrastructure and data recovery services in case of unplanned events or outages.

A new IBM offering for financial institutions enables them to integrate, manage, and gain insight into the business information generated by everyday operations and customer activity. This offering helps banks to fulfill obligations of the forthcoming Basel II Capital Accord.

New IBM initiatives further enable its 90,000 Business Partners to capture business opportunities in the on demand era. IBM's latest enablement tools for Business Partners includes incentives, sales tools, marketing support, training and solution integration offerings.

IBM has a major role at the 2004 Australian Open, serving up new ideas and technology for efficiency, cost effectiveness and timeliness. A single flexible Web infrastructure is managing three unrelated projects in real time -- the tournament, financial services, and protein science.