Standard Chartered signs multi-year cloud deal with Microsoft
Standard Chartered Bank and Microsoft have announced a three-year strategic partnership focused on cloud-based digital transformation.
Microsoft has signed a handful of Azure deals and extensions this year
Standard Chartered is to deploy Azure as a preferred cloud platform. The companies will cooperate on open banking and real-time payments to “unlock new banking experiences for clients”.
Standard Chartered will adopt a multi-cloud approach. The banks’ core banking, trading systems, virtual banking, and banking as a service will be cloud-based by 2025.
The bank’s trade finance systems will be the first to move, with others following over the next few years.
Standard Chartered will also use Microsoft Azure AI and data analytics capabilities to enhance and automate banking processes.
“Cloud is a cornerstone of Standard Chartered’s strategy to meet the present and future banking needs of our clients,” says Michael Gorriz, group chief information officer at the bank.
“Using cloud services improves our ability to be agile and innovative, while increasing our operational efficiency and resilience.
“We can focus on client benefits by deploying our solutions […] for faster integration of new business models and partners.”
Spotlights
Bhupendra Warathe, chief technology officer at Standard Chartered, says that the coronavirus pandemic has “shone a spotlight” on the need for banks to be resilient from a cost perspective.
He adds that the “speed and scale” of the Microsoft Azure solution was an attractive factor. Both were “especially important” due to Standard Chartered’s footprint as a “broad” firm.
Microsoft has signed a series of cloud deals over the past few months. It nailed down a five-year deal in July with National Australia Bank, and extended a hosting agreement with Finastra a few weeks later.
“Cloud computing is an enabler for financial institutions to modernise their infrastructure and systems,” says Bill Borden, Microsoft’s corporate vice president of worldwide financial services.
Related: Standard Chartered signs quantum computing research deal with USRA
