Westpac plans to formally announce the agreement with its new partner later this year, however, the bank's media spokesperson, David Lording, denied the Commonwealth Bank's 35 percent stake in EDS would have any effect on the agreement, and said the deal was struck with the operation's parent company, which is located in the United States.
The move by Westpac follows a path set by one of its biggest competitors when, in September 1997, the Commonwealth Bank signed an outsourcing deal with EDS worth AU$5 billion.
IBM Global Services Australia was speculated to have been invited by Westpac to take part in a bidding process, to compete for the bank's technology operations and telecommunications systems.
An IBM GSA spokesperson denied it had ever been involved in negotiations with Westpac.
According to Lording, the proposed agreement would see 1200 staff located within the bank's mortgage payment processing services divisions offered positions within EDS, a number he says the IT solutions company would have no trouble absorbing.
Lording refused to reveal how much the agreement is worth, nor would he give an indication of the operational cost savings the bank hopes to achieve through the outsourcing deal.
