ANZ National Bank and Gen-i, a Telecom New Zealand business, have signed an agreement that extends their existing services and relationship to include a core telecommunications infrastructure upgrade.

The companies say the four year deal will deliver immediate benefits to the bank and help ANZ National achieve its business sustainability objectives over the next five years.

ANZ National is New Zealand's largest financial services group, encompassing ANZ, The National Bank and UDC Finance.

ANZ National CEO Graham Hodges said, "This new infrastructure will provide financial benefits to ANZ National as well as deliver an innovative service infrastructure platform, driving greater agility, flexibility and competitive advantages for our business."

The agreement will deliver a new IP enabled telecommunications infrastructure that transitions the bank off ATM and Frame Relay technologies to new Multi Protocol Label Switching (MPLS) and IPtel services, and will provide significant annual cost savings to the bank.

It will also cover the provision of services including core data centre; national, corporate and branch data and infrastructure services; IPtel and ATM money machine services; as well as extending other existing telecommunications services.

Rhoda Holmes, General Manager Gen-i said, "Over the last 12 months, we have listened intently to ANZ National, gained greater understanding and aligned our services to better meet their technology needs and strategic goals. We are delighted that this new agreement delivers greater commercial flexibility, financial benefits and improved responsiveness to further meet the needs of ANZ National."

Mrs Holmes said, "This agreement is the latest of a series of significant wins for our business and demonstrates clients preference for the Gen-i proposition. We provide innovative ICT solutions that deliver real business outcomes and build strong partnerships based on honesty, trust, relevance and leadership."