UBS signs pact to use Microsoft cloud services

Bloomberg

UBS Group AG reached a deal worth hundreds of millions of Swiss francs to use Microsoft Corp cloud services in a bid to reduce costs while complying with strict Swiss privacy laws, according to people familiar with the matter.
Switzerland’s largest bank may begin to store data at Microsoft’s purpose-built facilities near Zurich and Geneva as soon as next year, the people said, asking not to be identified because the matter is private. It would be a big win for Microsoft over rivals Google and Amazon.com Inc after the company gambled on building facilities in Switzerland.
Banks in Switzerland, the world’s largest center for offshore wealth, are under pressure to cut costs as low interest rates and the dismantling of the nation’s banking secrecy squeeze profits. While using cloud services can eliminate the need to maintain costly data centers, Switzerland’s financial regulator Finma enforces strict laws regarding what data can be moved outside of the country.
That in part spurred Microsoft to build facilities in the country to meet demand from local banks, insurers and pharmaceutical companies, according to Microsoft spokesman Tobias Steger.
The exact locations of the installations are kept secret for security reasons, he said.
UBS plans to increasingly outsource to tech companies and scale back the number of its own data centers over the next four years, according to an investor presentation.