Aktia Bank divests its holdings in Oy Samlink Ab  

Aktia Bank Plc

Stock Exchange Release

23 January 2019 at 9.45 a.m.

Aktia Bank Plc (Aktia Bank) has today entered into an agreement to divest its holdings in Oy Samlink Ab (22.56%) to Cognizant Technology Solutions Finland Oy (Cognizant). Concurrently, also other owners, Savings Banks Group, Oma Savings Bank, Handelsbanken, Posti Group and POP Bank Group, are selling their holdings to Cognizant.

In 2013, Aktia Bank made the strategic decision to renew its core banking system together with the international bank IT supplier Temenos and the Swedish company Emric Ab (now part of Tieto), and hence cease to use Samlink’s system environment. The new core banking system was successfully implemented in 2017. Since the other owners of Samlink have now also made decisions regarding their new core banking solutions, it is in accordance with Aktia’s strategy to divest all shares in the company together with the other owners of Samlink. 

The transaction will generate approximately EUR 8 million sales profit for Aktia, which affects the Groups’ operating profit for 2019. The transaction does not have effect on the Group's reported comparable operating profit. The transaction has a slight positive effect on the Bank Group's capital adequacy.

The transaction is planned to be closed on 1 April 2019.  The transaction still requires permission by the Ministry of Economic Affairs and Employment of Finland and reviewing by the Financial Supervisory Authority.

For more information, please contact:

Executive Vice President Juha Hammarén, tel. 040 031 8588