The services, expected to commence in May 2008, are estimated to be worth £100 million (over US$200 million) over the life of the contract.

Diligenta has been working with SLF UK as preferred supplier since October 2007, following a competitive tender which came towards the natural end of SLF UK's existing outsourcing agreement. Diligenta will continue to run the operation in Basingstoke where SLF UK's Head Office is based.

"Diligenta and TCS will ensure that Sun Life Financial of Canada UK continues to receive market leading standards of customer service," said Phiroz Vandrevala, chairman of Diligenta. "This contract win adds significantly to Diligenta's reputation as a leading player in the UK Life and Pensions outsourcing market and is proof that the TCS promise of certainty can be translated in the UK Life and Pensions market."

"The deal with SLF UK underlines the strength of TCS' Diligenta strategy, launched in 2006. Our vision was to establish a centre of excellence in the UK to capitalise on the growing BPO trend and to cultivate new opportunities in this sector," said A.S. Lakshminarayanan, vice-president and country head, TCS UK & Ireland. "With the Sun Life Financial deal, Diligenta is moving into the second phase of its history, expanding its client base and UK market share and we are confident it heralds further growth for Diligenta."

Janet Fuller, Chief Executive of SLF UK explained, "We have successfully outsourced our customer services operations for over five years. In preparation for the natural end of our existing outsourcing agreement, we undertook a detailed and thorough review of the BPO market in the UK and selected Diligenta for its cost guarantees, risk transfer capability and its commitment to match or exceed our service requirements. We have confidence that Diligenta will work closely with us and our current provider to transition the services during the second quarter of 2008 - a process which we expect to be transparent to our customers. We are pleased that Diligenta will continue to run the services from Basingstoke as we are very happy with the quality of people and services provided from the current site."