Sovereign Bank has signed a definitive agreement with Georgia-based Intercept for item processing and cheque imaging services.
InterCept expects the that total revenue from the multi-year contract to be in excess of $120 million.
Paul Waters, Sovereign's executive director of transaction services, says the bank conducted a detailed review of several vendors before deciding on Intercept.
"Our primary objectives in this project are to enhance scalability, provide flexibility for future growth and rationalise our expenses," he adds.
To accommodate the additional business, InterCept plans to open four new item processing centres, expand two existing centres and add approximately 200 new employees.
The vendor says it will take over the item processing services from Sovereign's current supplier in mid to late 2003 and will complete the process in early 2004.