Puerto Rico bank in multi-yr deal with FIS

JACKSONVILLE, USA: Building on an 18-year trusted partner relationship, FIS, a provider of banking and payments technology, announced it has entered into a seven-year agreement with FirstBank Puerto Rico to assume full on-site operational responsibility for the bank's IT operations and staff.

It adds in an announcement that this new deal is the first of its kind for FIS in the Caribbean. "With more than 40 years' experience in the financial services marketplace, FIS delivers a complete set of outsourcing services that can be tailored to meet the individual needs of financial institutions."

Under the terms of this multi-year agreement, FIS will assume operational control of FirstBank Puerto Rico's IT operations including hardware and software upgrades, application management, skilled operations personnel, help desk and desktop services.

The resulting environment, it states, will enable the bank to realize lower operating costs, greater operational efficiencies and full regulatory compliance. The bank will also have access to FIS' portfolio of industry-leading solutions which will provide top-tier system functionality and assist the bank's growth strategy as it launches new products and services.

"Our extended relationship with FIS enables us to take advantage of their expertise in managing complex IT infrastructures while ensuring that the technology continues to deliver the results we need for the customers we serve," said Aurelio Alemán, president and CEO of FirstBank Puerto Rico. "At FirstBank Puerto Rico, we strive to focus on initiatives that deliver value to our customers."

According to research firm Celent, financial institutions spend more than 77 per cent of their budgets on maintenance and while this figure is expected to fall marginally in 2015, it will still remain above 75 per cent.

"The hard dollar costs and regulatory burdens of maintaining a complex IT environment are driving more institutions to take a closer look at how they manage their IT systems and budgets," said Mark Davey, executive vice president, FIS International Solutions Group.