Scandinavian banking group Nordea is outsourcing the back office handling of its paper-based payments services to Swedish BPO firm Tradimus. Financial details were not disclosed.
Tradimus will take over the bank's data capture operations at Nordea's facilities in Tierp, Norrköping and Solna in Sweden this April. The bank currently employs 500 staff to handle paper-based payment services, 170 of them full-time. All permanently employed staff will be offered jobs with Tradimus.
Nordea says the move is due to the rise in the use of electronic payments, which has led to diminishing volumes and rising costs for the handling of paper-based payments services. The bank predicts that by 2006 voumes of paper-based payments will constitute less than half of current levels.
Birgitta Werre, production and productivity, Nordea, says the deal with Tradimus is the best solution for customers who still use paper-based payments and for employees.
"We can focus on our core business and gain at the same time a partner who can help us avoid increased data capture costs. With Tradimus, employees also gain a new owner who is committed and wants to develop the business," says Werre.