Sweden's ForeningsSparbanken (Swedbank) is joining with venture capitalist IT Provider to invest in and pilot services for Internet banking.
Investments will primarily be made in e-businesses that focus on small and midsize companies as well as individuals, and on the development of commercial infrastructure for e-commerce. Examples include companies that offer online products and services that benefit the bank’s Internet customers.
"Our cooperation is a concrete example of how to bring together the old and new economy," says Johan Hernmarck, president of IT Provider. "Since the companies we select are able to offer their products and services to FöreningsSparbanken’s Internet customers, they don’t have to build up their own customer bases. They can begin right away to do business with customers that are used to buying online."
A growing share of the bank’s 4.5 million private customers and 230,000 business customers use the Internet to conduct banking business and other transactions.
The bank is cooperating this autumn with Telia, the Federation of Private Enterprises, Nutek and Microsoft on a project with the collective name 'IT lift', designed to help small businesses get online.