It was a Merry Christmas for EDS. Dutch bank ABN Amro has agreed to pay the services firm $1.3 billion over five years to manage a large part of its technology infrastructure.

The companies say EDS's work will focus on the bank's WCS unit, which caters to major business and institutional clients. The unit is active in more than 50 countries but has its largest hubs in New York and London.

Tuesday's agreement is the conclusion of long-running talks. ABN said last month that about 2,000 of its employees would likely be transferred to EDS as part of the deal, which won't be implemented until it receives regulatory approval and advice from ABN employee councils.

An EDS spokesman told The Associated Press that the deal is a significant boost for his company and that he expects work to begin during the first quarter of next year.

He also notes that at the start of the month, EDS signed a similar contract with Bank of America worth $4.5 billion over 10 years. "That's two multibillion contracts in about two weeks, in financial services alone," he says.

EDS had sales of $21.5 billion in 2001.