Italy's Intesa shifts core IT banking systems to Google's cloud technology

MILAN, July 2 (Reuters) - Italy's biggest bank Intesa Sanpaolo on Thursday said it had completed the cloud migration of its core IT systems, joining a handful of European banks that have managed to move away from legacy technology.       

• Replacing existing core IT infrastructure, known as mainframes, with cloud technology poses a major challenge to traditional banks.

• Legacy systems, often comprising multiple software stacks accumulated over time due to mergers, put high-street banks at a disadvantage versus cloud-native, challenger banks.

• Under a multi-billion-euro cloud transition project, Intesa launched cloud-based digital bank Isybank in 2023, partnering with British tech firm Thought Machine. By migrating millions of customers, it used Isybank as a testing ground for a full cloud shift.

• The move places Intesa among a small number of European banks that have pursued large-scale cloud migration: Denmark's Danske Bank, Britain's Lloyds, HSBC, and, within the euro zone, Spain's Santander and BBVA.

• Intesa, Google Cloud and TIM said in a joint statement the shift had relied on the two Italian Google Cloud regions in Turin and Milan, hosted by TIM's data centres.

• "More than 800 applications were successfully migrated to Google Cloud infrastructure, and an equal number were decommissioned within the bank's physical headquarters," the companies said.

• "Massive" amounts of data were transferred with "high security standards, speed, and minimum latency between cloud environments and legacy systems," they said.

• "The cloud infrastructure successfully absorbed massive workload volumes, ensuring business continuity without recording any major incidents during the migration phases."

• Euro zone banks' IT capabilities are a key focus for European Central Bank supervisors, who have repeatedly warned that weaknesses in legacy systems can increase operational and cyber risks.

(Reporting by Valentina ZaEditing by Keith Weir)