Cognizant Expands Nordic Footprint With Acquisition of Samlink

Cognizant has agreed to acquire Nordic technology services provider Oy Samlink Ab as part of a deal to build and operate a shared core banking platform for three banks in Finland.

More than 10% of Finnish banking deposits and loans will be managed by the new platform, Cognizant stated, adding that it will take on board all the employees of the Nordic firm.

Under the agreement, Cognizant will serve as a technology partner for the three banks (Savings Banks Group, Oma Savings Bank, and POP Bank), positioning them to capitalize on the cutting-edge digital technologies transforming the financial services industry.

The IT consultancy says the new platform it is going to build will lower the banks’ operational cost, besides helping them launch new products and services more quickly and cost-effectively.

“We needed a strategic partner with global scale, and proven success in modernizing banking IT systems and delivering the type of robust capabilities required to foster our collective digital transformation goals,” said Tomi Närhinen, Oy Samlink Ab’s Chairman of the Board.

“A secure, cloud-enabled core banking system supports faster roll-out of new features and provides superior customer experiences, while reducing operational lag, providing each bank with new future-ready capabilities,” stated Santosh Thomas, President, Global Growth Markets, Cognizant.

Samlink, which has two delivery centers in Finland, is owned by Savings Banks Group (42%), Aktia Bank PLC (22.56%), Oma Savings Bank Plc (15.45%), Handelsbanken (7.53%), Posti Group PLC (5.88%), POP Bank Group (5.24%).

Cognizant will set up what it calls ‘center of excellence’ in each major facility of all the three banks.

This is the second major deal for cognizant in the Nordic region after its 2016 IT outsourcing contract with Storebrand, a financial services provider.