Cognizant Technology Solutions Corporation announced on Wednesday that it has been selected by Rabobank to offer application services to drive operational efficiencies and improve productivity. The five-year deal expands Cognizant’s relationship with Rabobank group, a full-range financial services provider rated among the world’s 30 largest financial institutions. Financial details of the deal were not disclosed.

Under the agreement, Cognizant will provide application development, maintenance, and testing services to Rabobank. The company will combine its global talent base with its team of Dutch professionals to help Rabobank reduce its total cost of IT ownership and ensure high quality and consistency across its applications portfolio. Cognizant will also help Rabobank optimise its strategic IT investments to achieve greater levels of efficiency and realise its business objectives.

René Steenvoorden, chief information officer at Rabobank, said in a statement, “We place great importance on continuously surpassing the expectations of our customers and adding discernible value. In addition, the goal is to ensure business continuity, drive cost efficiency and increase business productivity. Cognizant's expertise will further strengthen our ability to meet this goal and respond to changing technology and business needs, both in the short and long term.”

Rabobank group is a full-range financial services provider that operates on cooperative principles. Its origins lie in the local loan cooperatives that were founded in the Netherlands about 110 years ago who had no access to the capital market. The group comprises of independent local Rabobanks plus Rabobank Nederland (sic), their umbrella organisation, and a number of specialist subsidiaries. It has about 60,000 employees who serve about 1-crore customers in 47 countries.

The local Rabobanks and their clients form the group's core cooperative business. The banks are members and shareholders of the supralocal cooperative organisation, Rabobank Nederland, which advises the banks and supports their local services. Rabobank Nederland also supervises, on behalf of the Dutch central bank, the solvency, liquidity and administrative organisation of the local Rabobanks. Rabobank Nederland further acts as a (international) wholesale bank and as a bankers' bank to the group and is the holding company of a large number of specialised subsidiaries.

shyamalaseetharaman@mydigitalfc.com