UK direct bank Egg has announced an alliance with Microsoft to combine the strengths of both brands to provide consumers with online financial products.
The first stage of the agreement is to provide a fund supermarket in the UK. This will be available through the MSN personal finance channel, MoneyCentral.
The service will be launched in the UK early next year, subject to appropriate regulatory arrangements and other consents being in place. The partnership will combine Egg's transactional capabilities with MSN's digital distribution capability.
Forecasts predict that by 2005 fund supermarkets will hold Euro 275 billion in assets across Europe and could account for 25% of all net inflow.
Alessandro Giacobbe, director of international products, finance product group, Microsoft Corporation, comments: "The Internet is truly suited to personal finance because of the range and detail of financial products and the ability to track portfolios and accounts online. We are very excited about the partnership with Egg because it is part of our long term vision to build an integrated offering of leading financial products and services."
There are plans to extend this relationship into other financial products and services, and from the UK into the rest of Europe.