Arek Oy, the company tasked with modernising Finnish earnings-related pension information systems, has signed contracts with Digia Oyj to provide IT services for the reform.

The award of the tender means the Vala project, which will modernise the common information systems of employment pension schemes, will enter its first phase this month (March) with work on the insurance component.

Commenting, Vala steering group lead and Keva pensions director, Eija Korhonen, said: “The modernisation of information systems used for career-long salary insurance and pension calculations is necessary as the current systems are coming to the end of their life cycle.”

The reform will allow for smooth upgrade installations, reducing downtime for pension institutions to provide services to their customers. The benefits of the new technology will, therefore, include better cost predictability.

In addition, as part of data security, issues related to the processing of personal data and General Data Protection Regulation (GDPR) requirements will be carefully considered in the service solutions.

Almost €4m has been budgeted this year for the information system overhaul, which will continue in phases over the coming years. The total cost of the project is eventually estimated at around €10m.

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