TCS bags $2-bn deal from Transamerica for Third Party Administration

Tata Consultancy Services on Friday announced that it has entered into an agreement with Transamerica, a provider of life insurance, retirement and investment solutions, to enable the transformation of administration of its US insurance and annuity business lines.

The partnership hopes to enable Transamerica to enhance its digital capabilities, simplify the service of more than 10 million policies into a single integrated modern platform, and drive greater sustainable growth opportunities through superior customer experiences. The multi-year agreement is worth more than $2 billion in revenues, the largest contract signed by TCS to date.

“Transamerica continues to put our customers at the forefront of everything we do. I’m very excited to embark on this partnership with TCS, whose transformation and technology innovation capabilities will supplement our focus on improving our customers’ experience in a digitally enabled way. This supports meaningful growth in all business lines, including insurance and annuities, and advances our competitive positioning. TCS was carefully selected because of their significant, ongoing investments in technology and their expertise in the insurance and annuity industry,” said Mark Mullin, Transamerica President & Chief Executive Officer. “TCS’ core competencies complement ours. TCS will provide valuable administration and quality customer service, and Transamerica will continue to engage with our customers, clients and advisors in the most meaningful ways to them by utilising our digital engagement platforms and developing new solutions that help people save, protect, invest and retire.”

The partnership will enable the transformation of the administration of Transamerica’s life insurance, annuity, supplemental health insurance, and workplace voluntary benefits products. It will also support the company’s overall transition to a simplified, cloud-enabled platform for agile new product development, enhanced services, acquisitions, and strategic innovation investments. This agreement is expected to lead to annual run-rate savings of approximately $70 million initially – growing to $100 million over time – for Transamerica. The majority is expected to benefit underlying earnings.

“TCS is helping to guide many of today’s leading companies through their business 4.0 journeys, in building their digital spines, becoming more agile, creating superior customer experiences, and driving exponential growth,” said Rajesh Gopinathan, CEO and Managing Director of Tata Consultancy Services. “We have invested heavily in our insurance digital platform, TCS BaNCS, and our extensive US capabilities, and are proud to partner with Transamerica in its ongoing transformation and welcome the transitioning employees to promising new careers at TCS.”

TCS BaNCS has become a highly respected and successful digital platform in the European market for more than a decade, with more than 17 million policies under administration. It is a complete, open architecture solution with an integrated business rules engine, encompassing policy administration, data management, integrated imaging, and workflow administration. TCS has adapted the platform for the US market to meet its operational and regulatory needs, both for today and in the future.

“TCS continuously invests in the latest technologies, local talent and US facilities to help leading US companies adapt to rapidly evolving customer demands. This agreement with Transamerica marks TCS’ entry into a highly specialised US Insurance Third Party Administration marketplace and will establish TCS BaNCS as a formidable digital platform for the US Insurance industry,” said Suresh Muthuswami, President and Global Head, Banking, Financial Services and Insurance Platforms, at TCS. “TCS has partnered with its global insurance clients in their transformation journeys and played an integral role in their growth. We have enabled improved speed-to-market, customer engagement and cognitive operations through our innovative technology services, the TCS BaNCS agile and digital platform, and our unmatched industry expertise. We look forward to a great relationship with Transamerica.”

TCS will make job offers to all of the applicable Transamerica employees currently supporting the life insurance, annuity, supplemental health insurance, and workplace voluntary benefits business lines, ensuring a consistently excellent experience for Transamerica customers and protecting approximately 2,200 American jobs. Employees transitioning to TCS will be given the opportunity to remain in the same US cities where they are currently based. TCS will also expand its existing relationship with Transamerica under this transaction, and locate in Transamerica’s current offices in various US cities.

TCS said it plans to make a significant investment in the region, most notably by establishing its new North American insurance hub for business operations in Cedar Rapids, Iowa. Beyond offering roles to 2,200 Transamerica employees across US cities, TCS plans to hire locally in Iowa, set up relationships with educational institutions, and help employees with professional development to gain digital skills and fluency. As one of America's 50 most community minded organisations, TCS will also work with state and local leaders, and community organisations to bring its flagship education programmes, such as goIT and Ignite My Future In School to students, educators, schools, and communities across Iowa.