Norwegian savings banks Fana Sparebank, Sparebanken Volda Ørsta and Voss Sparebank have signed new six-year IT outsourcing contracts, worth a combined total of Nkr100, with EDB Business Partner.
The new agreements run from 2005 to 2010 and will come into effect when EDB's current IT outsourcing contract with the banks' parent company Terra-Gruppen expires.
Nordic banking group Terra-Gruppen gave notice to terminate its contracts with EDB in September last year, with effect from end-2004 and end-2005, after calling for better prices and improvements in service and delivery quality.
Commenting on the new contracts, Nils Martin Axe, MD of Fana Sparebank, Harald Indresøvde, MD of Sparebanken Volda Ørsta and Kjell Jostein Bø, MD of Voss Sparebank, say: "The new contracts give each bank greater scope for product development to meet its own requirements, as well as delivering a significant reduction in costs."
Under the new deals, EDB's bank and finance division will provide software and services to support the banks' core operations, including Internet and branch banking, lending, deposits, accounting and reporting, payment services and CRM. Computer operating services will be provided by EDB IT Operations.
Ole Urdahl, Executive Vice President - EDB Bank & Finance, says: "The three banks will each be able to develop their own products based on standard solutions, and this will help them to strengthen their own brand and local presence."