BNP Paribas, the French bank has signed a five-year, £50m contract with Atos Origin for IT services in the UK and France.

The contract includes the majority of IT services under the control of BP²I, a joint venture between BNP Paribas and IBM set up in 2003, and includes the management of desktop services for the bank's investment banking business in the UK and retail banking in France. The deal is an extension of an existing relationship which was limited to the retail banking business only. Thierry Bjalon, country manager for BP²I UK, said: "IT transformation is crucial to our business success and we have selected Atos Origin because of its position in financial services, its delivery track record and experience of managing desktop services solutions."