Lloyds TSB banks on £170m Fujitsu outsourcing deal

Lloyds TSB has outsourced the management of its desktops across all its UK operations in a £170m five-year deal with Fujitsu Services aimed at cutting costs and improving customer service.

As part of the deal, 300 of the bank's IT staff will transfer to Fujitsu under TUPE employment regulations, with another 180 temporary Manpower contractors transferring to employment agency Adecco.

Fujitsu will provide desktop computing support to over 70,000 Lloyds TSB employees, including all customer-facing staff in 2,000 bank branches and 200 other offices.

The IT services firm will handle the management of over 80,000 devices, including PCs, laptops and some servers, as well as hardware supply, configuration and installation.

Igor Andronov, director of group IT at Lloyds TSB, said in a statement: "Lloyds TSB is committed to driving its business forward and developing products to ensure it continues to stand out in an increasingly competitive financial services market. Fujitsu's approach to managing our distributed computing environment allows us to work closely with them and use their skills to develop and continue to grow our business."

The Fujitsu deal follows hot on the heels of a £500m voice and data communications outsourcing deal Lloyds TSB signed with IBM at the end of last year.