Lloyds TSB, Barclays and HSBC have signed a five-year outsourcing contract extension with Unisys Corporation. The overall value of the new deal is estimated to be more than £315 million.

Unisys' UK joint venture subsidiary, Intelligent Processing Solutions Limited (iPSL), will manage the contract. iPSL provides outsourced cheque and credit clearing services for major banks in the UK. Lloyds TSB, Barclays and HSBC are all shareholders in the joint venture, along with majority shareholder Unisys.

Royston Hoggarth, chairman of iPSL, said, “By using a centralised, shared-services model that delivers significant economies of scale, iPSL enables our client banks to process payments with greater cost-efficiency than they could achieve individually. iPSL's combination of secure infrastructure and banking processes positions it well in coming years to help client banks in other closely related markets such as Account Servicing, including Imaging and Archiving and Regulatory Support.”