Chugoku Bank, a major Japanese regional bank, has signed a nine-year strategic outsourcing agreement with IBM. The contract was signed this month.

As part of the contract, IBM will manage operations and maintenance of Chugoku Bank's information technology (IT) systems, including host computer and servers. IBM aims to optimise business efficiencies for Chugoku Bank by stabilising and streamlining the IT systems and reducing IT costs for the bank.