Microsoft is aiming to draw Europe's "new affluents" to its MSN portal through a new partnership announced yesterday with Swiss bank Credit Suisse.
In its first significant signing for its new MoneyCentral personal finance portal, which is to be launched in the UK, France and Germany later this year, Microsoft said Credit Suisse would make its new investment service aimed at Europe's 40m wealthy individuals available on MSN.
As a result of the deal announced yesterday, customers of Credit Suisse can start trading shares and other investment products in a few weeks, while other personal finance products will be added later on.
The move came on the day that a study showed that established firms would dominate the internet economy. GartnerConsulting said that the value of the European internet sector will soar from $53bn (£37bn) to $1.3 trillion in the next four years, with old economy rather than dot.com companies responsible for the bulk of the upturn.
The report, commissioned by networking company Cisco, claimed that up to 95% of dot.coms were expected to fail within two to five years. For most, the costs of setting up a website and distribution system and establishing their brand were crippling.
However, the growth of European e-commerce was not expected to result in a significant increase in overall sales. Nick Smith, vice-president of GartnerConsulting, said: "People are not going to want more lawnmowers just because of the internet."
The Gartner report shows that more money is being spent in Europe on internet infrastructure and applications than on online deals. But while infrastructure spending would grow slowly, the value of e-commerce would soar 123% a year over the next four years.
Over the same period, average transaction values per head of population would jump from $500 to $12,000 in the US from about $300 to $8,000 in the UK, and from $240 to $7,000 for the European Union members as a whole.
• Patrica Hewitt, the e-commerce minister, yesterday said the auction of 42 licences to deliver broadband internet and multimedia services over the airwaves will start on November 10. The government is expecting to raise a minimum of £78.3m from the auction.
