(Oslo, 21 December 2001) SpareBank 1 Gruppen AS has signed an agreement with EDB Fellesdata, a wholly owned subsidiary of EDB Business Partner, for the development of new banking solutions. The agreement is for a three-year period with indicative revenue in excess of NOK 100 million over the period.

SpareBank 1 has chosen EDB Fellesdata as its preferred development partner. The agreement to co-operate on the development of new banking solutions is intended to realise SpareBank 1's multi-channel strategy so that the banks making up the SpareBank 1 Group are able, in a cost-effective way, to offer their customers the services they require through whichever banking channel the customer prefers.

The co-operation with SpareBank 1 is intended to optimise and further develop EDB Fellesdata's existing product portfolio, as well as providing extensive expertise in the development of banking systems. The agreement envisages that co-operation on development will include areas such as CRM, business processes, data warehousing, messaging and the Internet. The parties will manage the development projects jointly.

As part of the agreement, SpareBank 1 has decided to purchase EDB Fellesdata's standard system for messaging with archive functionality, and to initiate a joint study for a project to further develop this system.

Contact names:
Ole Trasti, Managing Director, EDB Fellesdata, and EVP, Bank & Finance, EDB Business Partner. Tel. +47 22 52 82 60, +47 90 08 91 00

Bjørn Trondsen, CEO, EDB Business Partner, Tel. +47 22 94 40 30, +47 91 78 56 17