Barclays has signed a six-year IT outsourcing deal with
Accenture valued at more than £400m.
The contract to outsource the bank's application development
division is one of the largest UK outsourcing deals this year and
follows at least nine months of negotiations.
Plans by Barclays to outsource its application development
division, Build Services, were first revealed by Computer Weekly
last August.
Nine hundred IT staff will transfer to Accenture over the next
year and there will be no compulsory redundancies in the first two
years of the contract.
Barclays will retain overall responsibility for IT strategy
development and will maintain staffing in selected areas.
The bank said the project will help it respond quickly to market
demands for changes in technology and lower the cost of developing
and maintaining its software applications.
The deal with Accenture is part of a long-term strategy by
Barclays to outsource the bulk of its IT to different
suppliers.
Last year, Barclays outsourced the management of its desktops to
EDS in a $350m (£214m) IT outsourcing deal.
Commenting on the Accenture deal David Weymouth, chief
information officer at Barclays, said. "Working with a recognised
leader in global technology capability is an important step in
ensuring that we deliver top-quartile capability and productivity
in the vital area of systems development."
Keith Brookes, national secretary for banking union Unifi, which
represents IT staff at Barclays, said the union was happy with the
deal although negotiations had been tough.