Swedbank Number One on the Internet

Swedbank Number One on the Internet Bank customers have discovered the advantages of handling their transactions on the Internet. In the course of the summer Swedbank via the Internet has consistently had almost 6,000 new customers every week. 290,000 customers are now connected which makes Swedbank the largest Internet bank in Sweden. -With a customer base of 4.5 million customers who are taking the new technology at an ever increasing pace, we have a unique position on the market. In addition to a very strong local connection we have one of the most modern Internet banks in the world, says Reinhold Geijer, President and CEO of Swedbank. The success during the summer is based on an increase in the Internet capacity as well as the development of the new Internet bank function called "The Dialogue" whereby the bank is adapted to suit each individual customer. Besides enabling the customer to make the usual bank transactions "The Dialogue provides access to an individual page where the customer has influence over the contents and is also able to communicate directly with the ban. Orders and applications, messages and queries - it can all be transmitted via the Internet. -One million bills are paid every month via our Internet bank, says Gert Engman, Executive Vice President and responsible for the Telephone bank and Swedbank via the Internet. -Among all the customers of Swedbank and the Independent savings banks 900,000 are today regularly using the computer at home or at work. The potential is considerably, and our goal is to have 400,000 of them connected to our Internet bank before the end of the year, says Gert Engman. Swedbank´s home page and the Internet bank have received several awards. It was recently voted the best bank site in Europe ande the second best in the world by the market research company Interbrand and IBM. In June the Norwegian Sparebank 1 Group signed a contract to buy Swedbank´s Internet solution. For further information please contact: Gert Engman, Executive Vice President, Swedbank, tel.no.: +46 8 5859 2068 Peter Nordblad, Head of the Internet Bank, Swedbank, tel.no.: +46 8 5859 2565 ------------------------------------------------------------ Please visit http://www.bit.se for further information The following files are available for download: http://www.bit.se/bitonline/1999/08/18/19990818BIT00270/bit0001.doc http://www.bit.se/bitonline/1999/08/18/19990818BIT00270/bit0002.pdf