Intesa Sanpaolo moves core systems to Google Cloud in Italy

Intesa Sanpaolo has completed the migration of its core IT systems to Google Cloud infrastructure, shifting more than 800 applications onto cloud regions in Italy. The move replaces legacy mainframe technology at Italy’s largest bank and is intended to support lower costs, resilience, data analytics and artificial intelligence, according to the companies involved.

The bank used Google Cloud regions in Turin and Milan, which are hosted in data centres operated by Telecom Italia, known as TIM. Finextra reported that the structure was chosen to meet local data residency requirements, meaning information can be stored and processed within Italy rather than being moved to infrastructure in another jurisdiction.

Cloud regions are groups of data centres that provide computing, storage and networking capacity from defined geographic locations. For a bank, the location and design of those regions are central to operational resilience, latency and compliance, particularly where core systems process customer records, payments and internal banking workloads.

Intesa Sanpaolo also retired an equal number of applications from systems at its physical headquarters, according to the report. The migration required large data transfers between the bank’s existing systems and the cloud environment, with the partners citing high security standards, speed and low latency during the transition.

From mainframe estate to cloud platform

The project moves a central part of Intesa Sanpaolo’s technology estate away from traditional mainframe infrastructure. Mainframes have long been used by banks for high-volume processing because they are stable and capable of handling mission-critical workloads. Moving those workloads to cloud infrastructure changes the way capacity is delivered: computing resources can be provisioned from cloud platforms, while applications can be redesigned or operated with more flexible deployment models.

The companies said the switch is designed to give Intesa Sanpaolo a more modern, resilient and sustainable infrastructure base in European banking. They also said it lays the groundwork for next-generation data analytics and AI, areas where banks increasingly rely on scalable computing capacity and consolidated data environments.

The migration was accompanied by a staff training programme. More than 3,000 Intesa Sanpaolo employees took part, producing more than 170 Google Cloud certifications, including more than 60 advanced-level certifications, according to the companies.

Massimo Proverbio, chief data, AI and technology officer at Intesa Sanpaolo, said the work with Google Cloud and TIM changed the bank’s technology and reduced costs. He said it also helped build the foundations for Isytech, described by the bank as a cloud-native digital technology platform serving customers and colleagues across the group.

Raffaele Gigantino, country manager for Italy at Google Cloud, said financial services groups require security and resilience when modernising core systems. He said Intesa Sanpaolo’s transition of complex, mission-critical workloads demonstrated that such projects can be completed without disruption when supported by the right technology.

This story draws on original reporting from Finextra Research.