Frankfurt / Ehningen, November 19, 2025 - Atruvia AG, the digitalization partner of the German Cooperative Financial Group, and IBM (NYSE: IBM) have sealed a long-term collaboration that paves the way for sustainable and state-of-the-art IT platforms for the banking of tomorrow.  Atruvia will use IBM z17, which was announced earlier this year, as a cornerstone support its mission critical operations including the core banking system. Modernization and hybrid cloud integration are core to Atruvia's strategy to provide leading services and an outstanding experience for its users. This mission is supported with the full strength of IBM’s software portfolio and key infrastructure for their use to advance automation, data management, and operational efficiency.

Operational Autonomy

At the heart of the collaboration is meeting Atruvia’s need for control and technological interoperability – core pillars of its strategic focus are:

• Data and Security: With HashiCorp Vault and IBM storage solutions, Atruvia ensures high standards in the secure management, encryption, and storage of sensitive banking and customer data— always fully controlled in its own data centers.
• Infrastructure: By deploying IBM z17 in its data centers, Atruvia provides banks with full control over business-critical systems — supported by state-of-the-art security features such as confidential computing and quantum-safe encryption, as well as integrated AI acceleration and advanced automation.
• Cloud: With Red Hat OpenShift as the basis for hybrid cloud scenarios, Atruvia ensures flexibility and independence from individual cloud providers. IBM offers solutions such as Cognos for bank reporting and Planning Analytics for the Sales Cockpit on OpenShift. In addition, IBM enables developers to design their own software and operate it confidently both in the data center and in the private and public cloud – always based on open standards.
• Vendor independence: With IBM Turbonomic, technological dependencies are reduced by intelligently optimizing and dynamically distributing workloads. At the same time, Apptio ensures cost transparency and allocates dependencies on manufacturers in terms of value creation.
• Innovation: Through access to IBM's research and development sites in Germany and Switzerland, Atruvia gains direct access to the latest technology with a clear regulatory framework. This enables Atruvia to take advantage of innovations at an early stage, actively shape them, and at the same time offer local compliance.

Sustainability and Efficiency

In addition to strengthening Atruvia’s operational autonomy, the collaboration also contributes to Atruvia's sustainability ambitions: IBM Z is designed to reduce power usage and operational energy demands while delivering enterprise-class performance, reliability, and security. In addition, IBM Turbonomic, Apptio and HashiCorp Terraform are designed to ensure optimal use of applications and infrastructure resources. At Atruvia, the use of IBM Turbonomic alone has eliminated the need for 1,000 physical servers, about 20%, reducing energy consumption and the associated carbon footprint.

In the picture are from left to right: Wolfgang Wendt, Chairman of the Management Board of IBM Deutschland GmbH and General Manager DACH; Elvira Baumgärtner, SVP Servicefeld Infrastructure Backbone Services, Atruvia; Monika Decker, Managing Director for Atruvia, IBM

Cooperation with a Long-term View

With the multi-year agreement, Atruvia and IBM are creating a stable framework for planning security and new opportunities to apply innovation – from application modernization to automation and AI-supported services. With this cooperation, IBM also underlines its clear commitment to Germany as a location: The newly opened technology campus in Ehningen brings together the headquarters, the research and development center, and the first IBM Quantum Data Center in Europe, in one location.

“We are the digitalization partner of the Cooperative Financial Group and have a special responsibility for security, sustainability, and innovation,” said Daniela Bücker, member of the Atruvia Executive Board. "The collaboration with IBM enables us to be future-proof in all dimensions of sovereignty: from data and infrastructure to cloud, manufacturer, and innovation sovereignty. All parties involved benefit from the long contract term."

“We’re excited to collaborate with Atruvia as a forward-thinking and trusted partner in banking and digital transformation,” said Wolfgang Wendt, Chairman of the Board of IBM Deutschland GmbH and General Manager of IBM Germany, Austria, and Switzerland. “Through this technology partnership, we aim to work with Atruvia to significantly advance operational autonomy and sustainability by leveraging our comprehensive hardware and software portfolio. From IBM z17 and hybrid cloud solutions to automation and data management tools, we’re helping Atruvia deliver stability, agility, and innovation across the German banking sector.”

Atruvia AG

Atruvia AG is the digitalization partner of the Cooperative Financial Group. The company combines decades of expertise in banking and information technology. The IT solutions and services specifically tailored to banks range from data center operations to the Atruvia banking process and app development. The company uses forward-looking technologies such as artificial intelligence and attaches great importance to process optimization and regulatory compliance. With administrative headquarters in Karlsruhe and Münster and branches in Munich, Frankfurt, and Berlin, the company currently employs more than 10,000 people in the group, who together generate annual consolidated sales of around 2.2 billion euros. Atruvia's customer base includes around 670 cooperative banks and regional credit unions in Germany, the companies of the Cooperative Financial Group, and numerous private banks and companies from other sectors, including the ADAC. Atruvia supports around 155,000 banking workstations and manages almost 91 million customer accounts. With over 26,000 self-service machines, the company ensures a smooth supply of cash throughout the country.

IBM

IBM is a leading provider of global hybrid cloud and AI solutions and consulting expertise. We help customers in more than 175 countries gain insights from their data, optimize business processes, reduce costs, and gain a competitive advantage in their industries. Thousands of government agencies and organizations in critical infrastructure sectors such as financial services, telecommunications, and healthcare rely on the IBM and Red Hat OpenShift hybrid cloud platform to drive their digital transformation quickly, efficiently, and securely. IBM's groundbreaking innovations in AI, quantum computing, industry-specific cloud solutions, and consulting provide our clients with open and flexible options. All of this is supported by IBM's long-standing commitment to trust, transparency, accountability, inclusion, and service. For more information, see http://www.ibm.com/de-de.

Media Contact:

Barbara Jax
IBM Unternehmenskommunikation 
barbara.jax@at.ibm.com

Regine Liebl-Schibinger
Atruvia Pressesprecherin 
Regine.Liebl-Schibinger@atruvia.de