TSB to open new IT centre in Edinburgh

TSB will create a new digital banking centre in Edinburgh as part of a £120m investment, the bank has announced.

The new IT centre, opening in April, will bring 90 jobs in IT, data and analytics.

The move follows an IT meltdown in 2018, when almost two million customers lost access to online banking services.

With TSB planning to close 17 branches in Scotland this year due to declining footfall, the bank said the new centre would help customers save and budget.

TSB's customer banking director Robin Bulloch told the BBC: "What we're seeing is more and more customers going online, and for those customers that are going to be impacted by branches that are closing, we work very closely with them to help educate them on other ways of banking, such a over the phone and online."

The bank has pledged to invest £120m to transform digital channels over the next three years, as part of its 2022 strategic plan.

A new services agreement will see IBM build and manage TSB’s private cloud environment, running services across TSB’s core banking platforms with all of the infrastructure being operated and managed by IBM under supervision by TSB.

By hosting and managing select services on a private cloud, operated by IBM, TSB will aim to strengthen IT resilience and leverage higher value technology, including AI, to deliver new cloud-native services to customers.

IBM UK and Ireland global technology services general manager Tosca Colangeli said: “As the financial services industry continues its rapid digital transformation, banks need a reliable, resilient and secure technology environment to meet the needs of customers and address complex security and regulatory requirements.

“An open hybrid IT cloud platform, built and managed with IBM’s deep industry expertise, is the best foundation for financial services providers to respond to these challenges and prepares them to securely integrate with IBM financial services ready public cloud capabilities in the future.”