Ghana’s Fidelity Bank chooses IBM to drive Transformation Agenda

At the U.S. Africa Business Forum in Washington, D.C, Ghana’s Fidelity Bank announced its choice of IBM to manage its technology infrastructure and services. The five year deal will help the bank deliver advanced customer services and secure its reputation as a dynamic financial services institution in West Africa.

Fidelity Bank Ghana Limited is seeking to enhance its operational efficiencies as it embarks on a new strategic direction, developing growth plans and strategies for new markets, products and services.

According to the company, Fidelity Bank’s choice of IBM to manage the administration and governance of its technology assets and operations will further entrench its position as a financial institution in West Africa The aim of the technology management services deal is to ensure stability in the bank’s operations nationwide and help drive its projected exponential growth, as it seeks to become one of Ghana’s top 3 banks in the next 5 years.

To support the bank’s goals, IBM will combine local and international expertise, including round-the-clock technical support from IBM’s international Global Delivery Centers to ensure the bank achieves cross-channel integration and a seamless customer experience across all its touch-points. The IBM-managed services will cover a broad spectrum of the bank’s IT functions, including management of its server, security, storage, networks, end user services, branch IT support, ATM infrastructure support and data-center services.

Ghana is one of Africa’s fastest growing economies, according to the World Bank.

Edward Effah, Managing Director, Fidelity Bank, said: “Our bank enjoys an exceptional reputation that results from the dedication and hard work of our employees and our incomparable products and services. In the rapidly changing Ghanaian banking industry, with far more players and competition than ever before, consumers are entitled to expect benchmark service and protection from these unique market challenges. It is my belief that our partnership with IBM will enable us to deliver and exceed these stakeholder expectations.”

The Ghanaian lender earlier chose IBM’s data-center solution for a successful retooling and upgrade of its technology assets.

“The economy is going through a unique phase in its evolution and increasingly we are seeing that the appropriate deployment of technology solutions and services in the nation’s financial services sector will be key to boosting the growth momentum already achieved in the sector and by extension in the macro-economic environment,” said Joe Mensah, Country General Manager, IBM Ghana.

IBM has a long history in Africa, and is taking its role as a technology leader seriously, helping to boost the capacities of Africa’s people and institutions. Just last year, IBM opened its first African Research Laboratory, the 12th globally and part of IBM’s $6 billion annual spend on research alone. In the past 5 years, the company has set up offices in Angola, Mauritius, Tanzania, Senegal, Ghana, Nigeria and Kenya and now has more than 20 subsidiaries on the continent.

“Changing economic conditions and oversight regulatory requirements are turning old arguments against outsourcing upside down as organisations seek ways to cut costs. In West Africa, the need for organisations to focus on their core business competencies while outsourcing their IT challenges to a trusted third-party service provider, may be a game changer to reduce overall operating cost. Fidelity Bank’s decision to go with IBM in this huge IT Outsourcing deal will definitely send a strong signal to the banking sector that IT outsourcing is the way to go,” said Bola Adisa, Country Regional Manager, IDC West Africa.