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Spar Nord Bank

Regulatory Filings Oct 10, 2014

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Today Spar Nord Bank A/S (“Spar Nord”) concluded an agreement with BEC a.m.b.a.
(”BEC”) regarding future cooperation on IT solutions and related application
deployments. The agreement, which means that Spar Nord has chosen BEC as its IT
partner and moves to BEC's IT platform, is expected to result in annual cost
savings for Spar Nord of around DKK 55 million, while at the same time boosting
Spar Nord's future development potential in the IT field. As a consequence of
the agreement with BEC, Spar Nord has terminated its agreement with
Skandinavisk Data Center A/S (”SDC”)

The agreement concluded today between Spar Nord and BEC means that Spar Nord
will become a full member of BEC. Accordingly, Spar Nord will transfer to BEC’s
IT platform and in future contribute to BEC’s application architecture
developments. In practice, the transfer from SDC’s to BEC’s platform is
expected to take place in 2016.

Business case

According to the agreement with BEC, Spar Nord has terminated its existing
agreement with SDC, and in that connection it will write down its SDC
shareholding, equal to a market-value adjustment of DKK 195 million in Q4 this
year. The conversion costs in connection with the practical transfer to BEC’s
IT platform in 2016 are expected to amount to about DKK 40 million.

The annual savings for Spar Nord as a result of the conversion are expected to
amount to some DKK 35 million in 2016 and around DKK 55 million in the
following years.

In connection with Spar Nord’s withdrawal from SDC it has been agreed between
Spar Nord and BEC that BEC will grant Spar Nord a discount. As a result, Spar
Nord’s financial obligations upon withdrawal from SDC are essentially expected
to have no impact on Spar Nord’s profits.

The conversion to BEC’s platform and the agreed future prices and terms and
conditions are expected to lift Spar Nord’s cost/income ratio by about 0.02 in
a normalized year.

Satisfaction at Spar Nord

John Lundsgaard, Managing Director, the Executive Board member responsible for
Spar Nord’s IT infrastructure architecture, says:

  • On the part of Spar Nord, we can say that we are highly satisfied with the
    agreement concluded today with BEC. And we are satisfied because the agreement
    will have a substantial positive economic impact and place us in a stronger
    position in the future competitive environment, and thus permit us to offer our
    customers and employees the best potential digital solutions.

On a number of previous occasions, Spar Nord - and John Lundsgaard - have
advocated a stronger consolidation of IT infrastructure services for Denmark’s
financial institutions.

  • We have long been convinced that the right solution for Denmark’s financial
    institutions is to concentrate our IT platforms on fewer data processing
    institutions, in the interests of both financial benefits and development
    potential, and we continue to believe so. Specifically we find that it is not
    rational to devote resources to implementing new legislation and regulatory
    requirements at so many data processing institutions at the same time, and,
    from a more general perspective, that it will strengthen the development
    potential for financial institutions to act hand-in-hand. But as it has not
    been possible to reach agreement on an all-embracing solution at this stage, we
    have chosen to make the decision that will put both Spar Nord and its
    shareholders in the strongest position, says John Lundsgaard.

BEC satisfied with the outcome

BEC is also pleased with the agreement made with Spar Nord. Gert R. Jonassen,
CEO of Arbejdernes Landsbank, who is the Chairman of BEC’s Board of Directors,
says:

  • It is with great pleasure that we bid Spar Nord welcome as a new member of
    BEC. Spar Nord will be one of BEC’s largest members, and will thus be able to
    really strengthen BEC’s business. I am in no doubt that in the future, this
    will mean great added value for Spar Nord, BEC’s members and BEC’s other
    customers.

In conclusion, the Chairman of BEC points out:

  • Naturally, changing IT supplier is no easy task, but I know that BEC and
    BEC’s members will do their utmost to ensure that Spar Nord is given the best
    possible welcome.

Questions regarding this announcement

Please direct any questions regarding this announcement to the undersigned, who
can be reached at tel. +45 9634 4010.

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