Abn In Pact With Eds For Card Data Processing

ABN Amro Bank has tied up with Electronic Data Systems (EDS), a US-based global IT outsourcing solutions company, for credit card data and back office processing services in the country. The bank plans to launch its credit card along with MasterCard next month.

According to ABN Amro Bank's executive vice-president and country representative Romesh Sobti, "This is the first step to the final launch of the credit card in the next few weeks. The most important ingredient in the credit card is processing. The credit decisions and marketing processes will be done by the bank with everything else being outsourced to EDS."

"The outsourcing to EDS will help in cutting down costs by 15-20 per cent. This will help in reducing the cost which the client will have to pay. The bank will offer a combination of cost and features to entice customers to our credit card," added Sobti. The mailing of statements to the customers and the printing of the cards will be controlled by the bank.

EDS is the leading global services company which provides end-to-end IT outsourcing solutions across all the sectors with manufacturing, financial services and government providing a major chunk of the business.

Says EDS's managing director (India) Anjali Jain, "This is 'one of a kind' alliance in the country. EDS has 3,000 clients in the financial services arena across the globe. The company will be opening a new facility in Noida for the facility with ABN Amro Bank. This is a long term alliance for 10 years."

EDS (India) Pvt Ltd was formed as a 100 per cent subsidiary of EDS Corporation in 1996. EDS has three facilities in Chennai and one in Gurgaon employing around 800 people. It plans to increase its local operations by around seven-eight times in the next couple of years. In India, it provides services to companies such as SKF, General Motors, Delphi etc. The company processes globally around 15 million credit cards daily. The Noida facility will have around 60 employees.

According to Jain, as and when other banks enter into alliances with EDS, the costs will come down and this will also be subsequently passed on to ABN Amro Bank.