Oslo and London, June 28, 2005: EDB Business Partner ASA (Reuters: EDBASA.OL) and i-flex® solutions (Reuters: IFLX.BO & IFLX.NS), have entered into an agreement to jointly offer comprehensive retail banking solutions to financial institutions in the Nordic region, primarily in Sweden, Finland, Denmark and Iceland.

 

EDB and i-flex will offer a UNIX-based solutions package for Nordic retail banks. It will combine the core system components of i-flex's core-banking solution FLEXCUBE®, the world's No. 1 selling banking solution*, with platform independent branch systems, payment and card systems, self-service systems and other supplementary systems from EDB. The solutions package is planned for deployment during 2006/2007. EDB and i-flex will co-operate as preferred partners in the Nordic region and on a case by case basis outside this region. EDB will also explore i-flex's PrimeSourcingTM capabilities as an offshoring partner.

 

"Together with i-flex, EDB will offer a complete retail-bank solution in all Nordic countries. EDB has been the market leader in Norway for several years with a market share of approximately 50 percent. Over the last few months EDB has signed several contracts with market leading Swedish banks for banking solutions and software modules. The co-operation with i-flex strengthens our competitiveness in the Nordic market outside Norway and opens new growth possibilities for EDB," says Endre Rangnes, CEO, EDB Business Partner ASA.

 

Nordic retail banks outside Norway have traditionally developed their own in-house proprietary software solutions operated on mainframes. In recent years several banks have invested in standardised software components and solutions from independent software developers. EDB and i-flex expect several banks to start investments in new solutions over the next five years to reduce operating expenses and increase functionality and user friendliness of their systems. The Nordic banking market is estimated to have a potential value of approximately NOK 10 Billion (app. 1.5 Billion USD) in yearly revenues for software licences, application development and application maintenance**.

 

"This market is technologically very mature. We are pleased to team up with EDB to enable the use of the next generation retail processing platform to some of the global banking sectors most demanding customers. With EDB's technologically advanced solutions and strong market position, our joint offering can compete effectively in the Nordic Region," says V Senthil Kumar, CEO, i-flex solutions b.v.

 

EDB and i-flex entered in to this agreement after a thorough bench-mark study where EDB's existing banking solutions for Norwegian retail banks and leading global solution packages were evaluated by the IDC company Financial Insights. The bench-mark study was carried out together with one of EDB's larger retail bank customers. The study concluded that EDB's banking solutions are market leading globally in terms of functionality, and compared very well with other market leading solutions in the areas of technology, architecture and cost-efficiency in operations.

 

Based on this study, EDB has decided to continue to develop and support its existing core-banking solution for Norwegian retail banks for the foreseeable future. However the UNIX-based Nordic retail bank solution, the joint offering with i-flex, will be available as an alternative for EDB's existing customers in Norway.

 

The study also found that Nordic retail banks expressed a preference for global suppliers for new core-banking solutions. After a careful assessment of potential partners, and supported by Financial Insights, EDB has chosen the established global market leader, i-flex solutions, as its partner.

With operating revenue of over NOK 4.2 billion (appr. 650 Million USD) in 2004, EDB is a leading IT group in the Nordic region. EDB had over 3,000 employees at the start of 2005, and represents one of the strongest Nordic centres of expertise for the development and operation of IT solutions. EDB is the leading supplier of software solutions and IT Operations to Norwegian banks and the third largest IT Operations supplier in the Nordic region. EDB is listed on the Oslo Stock Exchange under the ticker EDBASA.

 

For further information, please visit www.edb.com

i-flex® solutions (Reuters: IFLX.BO & IFLX.NS) is a world leader in providing IT solutions to the financial services industry. i-flex has serviced over 540 customers in more than 110 countries. i-flex's range of products and customized services enable financial institutions to cut costs, respond rapidly to market needs, enhance customer service levels and mitigate risk.

i-flex and FLEXCUBE are registered trademarks of i-flex solutions. Reveleus, Daybreak and PrimeSourcing are trademarks of i-flex solutions and are registered in several countries.

All company and product names are trademarks of the respective companies with which they are associated.

 

For information, please visit: www.iflexsolutions.com

 

 

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