ARMONK, N.Y., Sept. 15, 2021 /PRNewswire/ -- IBM (NYSE:IBM) announced today its first IBM Cloud Multizone Region (MZR) in Spain and a new agreement with CaixaBank, a leading financial group in Spain, to boost the bank's digital capabilities by joining this MZR and embracing IBM Cloud for Financial Services.  

IBM has been a technology partner of CaixaBank for more than 50 years. Under this agreement, CaixaBank will launch its CloudNow project which aims to evolve business core applications, improve efficiencies and reinforce its innovative vision of financial services with increased availability and resiliency.

"IBM has become an indispensable partner in the development of CaixaBank's digital capabilities, not only due to its in-depth understanding of the financial sector's challenges, but also because it has enabled us to advance into future of banking. This collaboration has helped us to combine our current technological infrastructures with an updated environment boosted by cloud technology and artificial intelligence. The new MZR is a key milestone to keep offering our 21 million customers the best user experience we can while maintaining the highest levels of information confidentiality and protection," Gonzalo Gortazar, CEO of CaixaBank said. 

To help scale hybrid cloud adoption, IBM's new MZR is designed to enable European clients to deploy mission-critical workloads with high levels of security, and address their data sovereignty and regulatory compliance requirements. IBM's expanded footprint signals its continued investment to help foster business growth in Europe and is expected to create hundreds of jobs in Spain. IBM continues to support the EU's efforts to build greater trust in the digital economy.

"IBM is proud to provide CaixaBank with a technology platform that is designed to deliver the highest levels of trust, security and privacy. IBM's hybrid cloud and AI solutions will help CaixaBank strengthen its business model and improve its customer experience. This partnership is a great example of our commitment to apply the power of technology to help business and society thrive," said IBM CEO, Arvind Krishna.

The IBM Cloud for Financial Services incorporates built-in security and compliance controls to help companies reduce regulatory barriers impeding IT landscape and application modernization. Supported by a growing ecosystem of more than 100 technology partners and FinTechs, the platform is designed to speed financial institutions' transformations while addressing potential systemic industry risks throughout the supply chain.

As part of this agreement, Kyndryl, the new, independent public company that will be created following the separation of IBM's Managed Infrastructure Services business, will help CaixaBank to integrate their new hybrid cloud model while the bank leverages IBM Global Business Services' deep industry expertise to continuously support their industry innovation capabilities.

IBM MZRs are composed of three or more data centers with each being an individual Availability Zone. This is designed so that a single failure event can affect only a single data center rather than all zones – allowing for consistent cloud services and greater resiliency to help clients continuously run mission-critical workloads. CaixaBank and other enterprises across Europe will have access to our security, automation, and Red Hat capabilities, along with IBM Cloud's network, helping clients address their data sovereignty and compliance regulations as they move along their hybrid cloud journey.

To learn more about IBM's insights and solutions for the global banking industry, visit www.ibm.com/banking.

Kaveri Camire
IBM Communications
kcamire@us.ibm.com 

Suzanne Cross
IBM Communications
Suzanne.cross@us.ibm.com 

SOURCE IBM