EDS to Create Banking Skills Center in France to Serve Growing Sector
PLANO, Texas and NANTERRE, France, May 12 /CNW/ -- EDS (NYSE: EDS) today announced a cornerstone contract with Banque Hervet, a leading regional French Bank. The six-year agreement is the first comprehensive information technology (IT) contract in the growing French banking industry -- an industry with annual growth predicted at 12 percent through 2005.
EDS will manage Banque Hervet's IT infrastructure including network, desktop and server management, and provide applications support. EDS also will create a center for professional skills in the banking sector at the Fussy (Bourges) site. The center will focus on serving all bank outsourcing needs including Customer Relationship Management (CRM) and related data warehousing, payment management, risk analysis and the hosting of Applications Services Provider (ASP) solutions.
The computer services teams from Banque Hervet will join EDS and serve as the foundation for the new center and support Banque Hervet.
"The ability to offer top quality outsourcing services, and thereby maintain 100 jobs in the Centre region of France, convinced Banque Hervet to choose EDS," said Patrick Careil, chairman of Banque Hervet.
"EDS has increased its dimension in the market by contributing extremely competent IT teams and a high-performing bank offering," said EDS France President Francis Meston. "The Fussy Center strengthens EDS' retail banking expertise as a part of the EDS Best Shore(SM) Solution Center network in Europe."
EDS' work in the worldwide financial services industry accounted for approximately 14 percent of the company's revenue last year. More than 16,000 EDS employees work on finance-related projects in 29 countries for clients such as Abbey National, ABN AMRO, Aegon, Aon, Bank of America, Bank of Canada, Bank One, CIBC, Commonwealth Bank Group, KBC, Korea First Bank, Lloyds TSB, Royal Bank of Scotland, Visa and Westpac.
"EDS is the leader in deploying technology for financial institutions throughout the world, including ABN AMRO, Deutsche Bank, Banca di Roma and Belgium's Fortis," said Coley Clark, president of EDS' Global Financial Industry Group. "This landmark agreement furthers EDS' position as a major player in the European banking market."
About Banque Hervet
Banque Hervet is present primarily in Ile de France and the Centre Region. Founded in 1830 in Bourges, it developed its activities in Berry and now has 86 branches in France with an administrative center in Fussy. Banque Hervet's activity deals with SME, entrepreneurs and wealth management.
One of the concerns addressed by the facilities management contract that Banque Hervet signed with EDS is retaining jobs at the Fussy site over the long term while enhancing career and training options for IT personnel. This operation illustrates the bank's commitment toward its collaborators, its partners and its clients.
In 2002, Operating Income growth at Banque Hervet was euro 199,030,000, an increase of 4.8%. The increase in service commissions, within the business market as well as the retail market combined with the strong increase in real estate lending sustained growth across the board. Net profit increased by 41.3% to euro 51.3 m. The Cost Income Ratio was as low as 65.9% and ROE amounted to 36%.
Find out more about Banque Hervet at www.banque-hervet.fr .
About EDS
EDS, the leading global services company, provides strategy, implementation, business transformation and operational solutions for clients managing the business and technology complexities of the digital economy. EDS brings together the world's best technologies to address critical client business imperatives. It helps clients eliminate boundaries, collaborate in new ways, establish their customers' trust and continuously seek improvement. EDS, with its management consulting subsidiary, A.T. Kearney, serves the world's leading companies and governments in 60 countries. EDS reported revenues of $21.5 billion in 2002. The company's stock is traded on the New York Stock Exchange and the London Stock Exchange. Learn more www.eds.com .
CONTACTS:
Mark Gilman - EDS
+1 248-265-8544
mark.gilmaneds.com
Francis Jubert - EDS (Europe)
+ 33 (0) 1 47 29 68 38
Francis.juberteds.com
Sophie Bourdeu - Banque Hervet
+ 33 (0) 1 46 40 91 08
sophie.bourdeubanque-hervet.fr
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/Web site: http://www.banque-hervet.fr
For further information: Mark Gilman of Electronic Data Systems Corporation, +1-248-265-8544, or mark.gilman@eds.com ; or Francis Jubert of EDS Europe , +33-0-1-47-29-68-38, or Francis.jubert@eds.com ; or Sophie Bourdeu of Banque Hervet, +1-33-0-1-46-40-91-08, or sophie.bourdeu@banque-hervet.fr
