Barclays has chosen Indian technology giant HCL to lead its investment in artificial intelligence (AI) and automated digital workplace systems for 80,000 employees worldwide, as it announced plans to wind down its operations centre in Lithuania.

HCL Technologies, headquartered in Noida, India, will also be providing banking mainframe services to Barclays as part of the plan to expand their existing IT infrastructure services deal.

The deal to be signed by the two companies will see 460 Barclays employees in its operations centre in Lithuania transfer over to HCL, with the remaining employees offered redundancy.

The deal comes as HCL is looking to build its international and investment footprint in Lithuania as Barclays closes down its operations in the Northern European country.

Barclays in Lithuania provides technological solutions and a broad spectrum of IT and human resource management to the company’s branches all over the world.

The contract between HCL and Barclays is yet to be executed pending banking regulatory notification, but the companies expect conclude the deal during the first quarter of 2019.

Mariano Andrade Gonzalez, the head of Barclays Group Operations Lithuania, commented: “We were the first foreign company to establish its service center in Lithuania, leading to other large foreign companies basing themselves here.

“While aiming to achieve the highest quality of business and services, we continuously review our operations in accordance with the long-term global strategy of Barclays. A decision has been made to optimize operations, meaning a number of roles could transfer to HCL Technologies, with whom we have worked closely for a few years.”

Share Story: