Norwegian financial services group Gjensidige Nor has begun negotiations with TietoEnator on the purchase of a new core system to replace incumbent supplier EDB Business Partners when its existing five-year contract expires in 2005.
In a statement, the group says it expects the new-generation banking platform to deliver substantial gains in system efficiency, entailing reduced time to market for new products as well as reduced operating expenses.
The bank says the negotiations do not affect EDB Teamco's wide-ranging deliveries of operations solutions or EDB Fellesdata's ongoing development projects for Gjensidige.
If the negotiations with TietoEnator are finalised, the deal will result in the loss to EDB Business Partners of Nkr40 million in annual sales of applications to Gjensidige NOR.
The loss of the contract is another blow to EDB Business Partners, which recently lost its CEO Bjørn Trondsen after signalling plans to shed 185 staff amid a continuing downturn in demand.