FöreningsSparbanken and Barclays partner to launch Nordic credit card operation

FöreningsSparbanken has signed an agreement with Barclays to establish a joint venture to sell and distribute credit cards in the Nordic market. The objective is to become market leader by offering competitive cards and card-based consumer credits. The credit card market in Sweden and Norway is currently estimated at 2-3 million units, but the Nordic market potential is believed to be upwards of 10 million cards. The market for consumer credits exceeds SEK 40 billion. “With access to Barclays’ skills and extensive international experience in credit cards and consumer credits, we will be able to serve the customers with competitive new card products. The JV will substantially strengthen FöreningsSparbanken’s market position in credit cards and have a strong position in the Nordic market”, says Jan Lidén, President and CEO of FöreningsSparbanken. “This is a powerful partnership which combines FöreningsSparbanken’s customer and distribution strengths in Scandinavia with Barclaycard’s cutting-edge risk management and customer acquisition skills”, comments Barclaycard’s CEO Gary Hoffman. The JV will consist of FöreningsSparbanken’s Swedish credit cards operations and its subsidiary EnterCard AS in Norway. It will be jointly owned by FöreningsSparbanken and Barclays, with FöreningsSparbanken retaining a 60 percent share of the votes and Barclays 40 percent. There will, however, be joint decision making in all key areas. The JV will be headquartered in Stockholm, Sweden. Sales will be handled by FöreningsSparbanken’s extensive distribution network in Sweden while EnterCard AS will serve Norwegian customers, among them many savings bank customers. These channels will be complemented by existing and future partnerships as well as direct marketing to consumers. The sale of FöreningsSparbanken credit card operation to the new JV for an approximate amount of SEK 1.0 billion will result in an estimated capital gain of SEK 800 million for the Group. The gain is expected to affect the third quarter results of 2005. The agreement requires regulatory approval. Conference call FöreningsSparbanken will host a conference call later today in order for analysts, investors, journalists and others to ask additional questions regarding the agreement in question: Time: Friday, February 4th, at 10.00 AM, CET. Call number: +44 (0) 20 8240 8249 To attend the presentation by telephone, call ten minutes prior to the start of the conference. An audio recording will be available for three days following the event. For access to this, dial +46 8 5052 0333 and enter access code # 645195. For further information, please contact: Jan Lidén, President and CEO, FöreningsSparbanken, phone: +46 8 585 922 27. Kjell Hedman, Head of Customer Offerings and Products, FöreningsSparbanken, phone +46 8 708 538 188. Henrik Kolga, Head of Communications, FöreningsSparbanken, phone: +46 708 111 315. Jonas Blomberg, Head of Investor Relations, FöreningsSparbanken, phone: +46 702 650 133.