UBS Group AG has finalized a deal with Microsoft Corp. that will enable the Swiss lender to use the U.S.-based multinational technology giant's cloud services, sources told Bloomberg News.
The deal, which could be worth hundreds of millions of Swiss francs, is part of the Zurich-based group's efforts to cut costs and adhere to the strict Swiss privacy laws.
UBS may begin to store data at Microsoft's facilities near Zurich and Geneva as soon as 2019, according to the sources. The bank's chief information officer, Mike Dargan, told Bloomberg that the lender is deciding on which applications will be shifted to Microsoft, although no client data is being transferred yet.