The bank and the international provider of banking solutions today announced that they are in advanced discussions for a joint project to establish, pending amongst other, the closing of the transaction and regulatory approval, the first independent provider of full Business Process Outsourcing (BPO) services in Luxembourg for private and universal banks in the target market Benelux and France. This follows BIL's recent decision to choose the Avaloq Banking Suite as its new core banking system after a thorough selection process.

As Luxembourg's oldest private bank, BIL has always played an active role in the development of Luxembourg's economy and with this decision confirms its intention of actively contributing to the ongoing transformation of the local financial industry. Avaloq, whose presence in Luxembourg goes back to 2007, has always considered Luxembourg as a key market in its strategy. Luxembourg was the first country outside of Switzerland Avaloq set foot in. Today, Avaloq counts 11 customers in Luxembourg that are either using or currently implementing the Avaloq Banking Suite as their comprehensive banking solution.

The goal of the planned strategic partnership is to offer local and foreign private and universal banks a solution to standardise and automate back office processes and to have them operated by a seasoned specialist. As an industry leader in this area, Avaloq understands the importance of fully industrialising back office processes while at the same time driving innovation and differentiation in the advisory area. This enables banks to focus entirely on their front office activities and thus to make a difference in client interaction. The BPO model also serves as the ideal solution for foreign banks wishing to use Luxembourg as an entry point into the European financial market.

The Avaloq group has already successfully implemented this independent BPO model in Switzerland and Germany. BIL and Avaloq are now planning to join forces in order to adapt the business model to the market specific requirements of Benelux and France. Furthermore, Avaloq is currently in the process of building up an international network of BPO centres, which the new BPO centre in Luxembourg would be part of. Further announcements will be made later this year.