Bank of Ayudhya (Krungsri), one of the largest financial institutions in Thailand, has announced a five-year $140 million engagement with IBM to accelerate its efforts towards digital transformation.

In August 2017, the bank announced its roadmap towards becoming a digital banking leader. It is working towards creating a technology infrastructure that is secure, resilient and cloud-ready to support mobile banking, artificial intelligence, digital banking and plans for end-to-end digitalization to streamline customer service and operations.

Krungsri, a member of Ripple’s blockchain network, started working with IBM back in 2012, under an agreement focused on infrastructure as a service. They completed a successful blockchain pilot last year aimed at streamlining the bank's contract management.

More recently, the bank completed a pilot test for the real-time international remittance using its own blockchain technology. The pilot involved international remittance from Thailand to Singapore and used Krungsri Blockchain Interledger.

"Our vision of becoming a digital banking and innovation leader requires Krungsri to have strong and stable technology partners. This extended IBM Services agreement ensures our technology platform is not only stable but can thrive through the introduction of new technologies such as AI, cloud, and blockchain as we build out the best digital bank in Thailand," said Noriaki Goto, Krungsri's President and Chief Executive Officer, Krungsri.

The extended agreement covers managed services across IBM mainframe z14, storage including Flash, servers, network and ATMs. It is designed to provide Krungsri's technology platform with both stability, and the ability to build out cloud-ready infrastructure to support its digital transformation vision.