Lloyds Bank is to take a minority equity stake in cloud-native payments technology house Form3 as part of an overhaul of its legacy payments architecture.
The partnership with Form3 will aim to simplify Lloyds’ payments capabilities, providing support for enhanced data and new overlay services and creating the basis for the bank's response to the UK's New Payment Architecture initiative and.
Supporting the deal, Lloyds is also acquiring a minority equity stake in Form3 as part of its next investment round which is expected to complete in August.
The equity investment follows a similar deal struck with Barclays Bank, which joined two funding rounds in Form3 back in 2018.
Otto Benz, Director, payments technical services at Lloyds Banking Group says: “The potential of the cloud in payments is enormous and is firmly at the forefront of our strategy. We are committed to working with the most innovative technology providers, including Form3, to deliver a range of solutions that push the boundaries of what’s possible while reducing risk and providing customers with an improved digital experience.”
The bank's shift to the cloud has received added impetus this year, following the March signing of a five-year deal with Google Cloud and a January engagement with Microsoft for the delivery of cloud-based productivity tools within Office 365 to all employees.