Nordic investment bank Carnegie has signed a letter of intent with Alfred Berg and EDS to create a post-trade processing joint venture.
The proposed initiative is part of the action plan One Carnegie announced in response to a 75 per cent fall in net first quarter profits at Scandinavia's largest investment bank. Instigating 55 redundancies in front and back office personnel at its Swedish operations, the bank announced plans to investigate further opportunities for centralising administration functions and further streamlining the business.
The latest initiative follows a group-wide review of IT and back office processing, taking in existing post-trade joint venture Capital C, set up in partnership with Alfred Berg in 1999.
Details are sketchy, but it appears likely that EDS will be brought in to take over the operations of Capital C with a view to extending its remit to other financial firms in the region.
The parties intend to sign a definitive agreement late in 2003 following the conclusion of a joint feasibility study.