IBM Services to manage the Bank’s hybrid cloud approach and strengthen security and regulatory processes required for the financial services industry

 January 19, 2021 – Luminor Bank and IBM today announced a new five year agreement under which IBM will support Luminor to accelerate its digital transformation as well as strengthen security and regulatory compliance related processes by migrating its IT infrastructure to IBM Cloud for Financial Services. With IBM, Luminor will accelerate its adoption of next-generation technology, digital-driven and customer-centric solutions in a hybrid cloud environment.

The bank has entered the next stage of its transformation following the successful migration of its customers to Luminor’s banking platform that is independent from its former parent banks. The next phase of transformation for Luminor will see an increased focus on customer satisfaction, digital transformation and growth, while strengthening security and regulatory processes required of the industry.

Luminor will create a new digital platform which will be a key component for Luminor’s growth and digital innovation and development in an agile and compliant IT environment. The platform will run on IBM Cloud for Financial Services which includes a built-in set of cloud security and compliance control requirements that allow financial institutions to confidently build and host key applications and workloads. 

IBM Services will manage Luminor’s IT operations and transform its core banking and integration platform with an AI driven delivery model and provide Luminor with deep industry expertise, access to the latest technological innovation in Cloud, AI and Security which will enhance its ability to develop new products and digital services. 

In addition, as part of the agreement, approximately 200 people from Luminor’s Technology Division will be transferred to IBM.

 Peter Bosek, CEO of Luminor said:

“This strategic partnership is critical to Luminor as we enter the next stage of growth in our corporate transformation program; working with IBM significantly improves our technological agility and will accelerate the digitization of our business. Migrating to the IBM Cloud for Financial Services will allow us to enhance our products and services for the benefit of our customers and bring innovative global banking products to the Baltic banking market.”

 Ilja Sovetov, CTO of Luminor, added:

“We are pleased to partner with IBM for this multi-year program. IBM has leading-edge capabilities both in technology operations and in understanding the specific regulatory compliance, security and resiliency requirements for the banking industry. This program will also speed up the implementation of advanced Cybersecurity, Compliance and Regulatory solutions.”

“We are seeing that financial organizations are looking to migrate to the cloud in order to accelerate transformation and meet the needs of today’s digital customer,”

– said Rima Valentukeviciene, Country Leader, IBM Baltics.

IBM brings decades of industry experience and leadership in security to help leading banks such as Luminor drive innovation while still addressing the complex security and regulatory requirements of this industry. With our strong built-in controls, banks can confidentially migrate their mission-critical workloads to the cloud.”

About Luminor

Luminor is the third-largest provider of financial services in the Baltics, providing banking and financial services to help individuals, companies and institutions grow in its home markets of Estonia, Latvia and Lithuania. Luminor has some 900,000 clients, 2,355 employees, and a market share of 16.3% in deposits and 17.4% in lending as at the end of September 2020. Luminor has total shareholders’ equity of 1.6 billion EUR and it is well-capitalised with a CET1 ratio of 22.0%.

 About IBM

IBM is a leading provider of hybrid cloud, data and artificial intelligence solutions to the global financial services industry. To learn more about IBM’s solutions and insights for the global banking industry, please visit www.ibm.com/industries/banking-financial-markets

For more information on IBM Cloud for Financial Services, visit: https://www.ibm.com/cloud/financial-services