Google Cloud takes bite out of financial sector with Deutsche Bank deal

10-year contract is a big win for Google Cloud as it looks to penetrate European financial sector

Google has agreed a 10-year cloud partnership deal with Deutsche Bank, marking a major win for the vendor in penetrating the financial sector in Europe.

The deal will see the US tech giant provide cloud computing services to the German bank. The two parties will also make joint technology investments, with Bloomberg reporting that Deutsche Bank is expecting a €1bn return on the partnership.

Bringing Google on board will help Deutsche Bank to speed up its move to the cloud and transform its IT environment. The transformation will be carried out through a multi-year phased approach, with both parties pledging to remain compliant with privacy and data protection regulations.

"The partnership with Google Cloud will be an important driver of our strategic transformation," Deutsche Bank CEO Christian Sewing said in a statement. "It is as much a revenue story as it is about costs."

Google's cloud business has seen lightning growth over the last few years. For its latest quarter, ending 31 March 2020, Google Cloud Platform grew revenues by 52 per cent to $2.8bn

"For more than 150 years, Deutsche Bank has been an industry pioneer, with a strong record of innovation in the financial services sector," said Sundar Pichai, CEO of Google. "We're excited about our strategic partnership and the opportunity for Google Cloud to be helpful to Deutsche Bank and its clients as they grow their business and shape the future of the financial services industry."

The contract is the product of five months of intensive discussions and due diligence, claims Deutsche Bank, where it reached out to multiple cloud service providers to build a multi-cloud strategy.

Deutsche Bank claims it will continue to work with its existing technology partners even with the 10-year deal with Google in place.