FIS, the world's largest provider of banking and payments technology, announced that it has signed a new multi-year IT managed services agreement with Waterbury, Conn.-based Webster Bank to manage key aspects of the bank's technology platform and operations.
The new agreement supports Webster Bank's strategy to reduce operational expenses and deliver advanced tools and services to its customers and is a proof point of the growing trend for institutions to entrust many IT functions to partners in order to focus on other strategic initiatives.
Under the terms of the agreement, FIS will provide the bank with a full spectrum of technology services for managing the bank's IT operations including desktop and data base management, voice, network and server operations. By outsourcing these components, Webster Bank gains the benefits of optimizing its IT infrastructure, managing operational expenses and providing new and powerful service capabilities to its clients.
"More than ever, financial institutions are looking to their technology and service providers to deliver the infrastructure and operating efficiencies that allow them to better serve their customers and focus on the differentiating initiatives that help them better compete and grow their market share," said Anthony Jabbour, EVP, FIS North American Financial Institutions. "Webster and FIS have a longstanding relationship, and our technologies and services closely align with Webster Bank's goals of offering best-in-class services at optimal cost and risk."
Webster Bank determined it could leverage FIS' extensive technology expertise to manage many of the expenses and challenges associated with supporting IT infrastructure in-house. Moving this function to a trusted and experienced partner will enable the bank to more quickly deliver on the initiatives that support its intense focus on its customers. This move also supports the bank's established goals for reducing IT and operational expenses, adopting an infrastructure built for long-term growth and enhancing service to customers through market-leading banking tools and services.
"As we grow, Webster needs reliable technology partners to provide robust infrastructure and services so we can focus on delivering on our customer promise, and FIS is the partner we can always rely on," said Jerry Plush, president and chief operating officer of Webster Bank. "FIS aligned with our mission and quickly helped us understand what we needed to best serve our customers."
With more than $20 billion in assets, Webster Bank provides business and consumer banking, mortgages, financial planning, trust and investment services through its 168 banking offices and mobile and online services.