Will establish the Nordic region’s leading payment and identification player
(Oslo, Friday 17th of November 2017) Banks in Norway have entered an agreement of intent to further develop the world’s most customer-friendly and efficient payment- and identification solutions. Through combining Vipps, BankAxept and BankID Norge the objective is to create even better customer experiences and to stand stronger in the competition against the global technology giants.
After a period of increasing fragmentation in the payment services field in Norway, banks are now collecting their positions in a new jointly owned undertaking, which will build on the strengths of the three companies to achieve improved cost efficiency, strengthened innovation and an enhanced purchasing experience in the retail and consumer markets.
“Norway is unique in having had several decades of collaboration on payment solutions between banks in Norway. This has given us services and infrastructure that are among the best and most efficient in the world based on analyses done by the Norwegian central bank. We are now taking this collaboration a step further by establishing the Nordic region’s leading and most forward-thinking player within payments and identification”, says Finn Haugan, Chairman of the Board of BankAxept and Sparebank1.
Leading fintech entity
The new undertaking, based in Oslo and employing 108 staff will represent a unique fintech entity with considerable expertise in payments, identification and product development. Today, the three companies are active in different respective stages of payment transactions.
“The three companies together symbolize a Norwegian success story within the fintech sector, and today have several million Norwegians as users. We are now combining these companies, each of which is currently responsible for a particular aspect of the payment transaction, which will yield increased user-friendliness and strengthened innovation. Pooling our resources will enable us to develop even simpler, more secure and more cost-efficient solutions – to the delight of retailers and customers alike”, says Rune Bjerke, Chairman of the Board in Vipps and President and CEO of DNB.
Radical transformation
“The payments market is undergoing a radical transformation with changes in consumer behavior, technological innovations and the regulatory environment. Global players already have a major presence in the Norwegian payments market, and technology giants are ready and waiting to capture a share of Norwegians’ payments. Through this undertaking, the Norwegian alternative is better positioned to compete against the major foreign players”, says Rune Garborg, CEO Vipps.
The aim is to get the new company up and running by 1st of August 2018, pending approval from Norwegian authorities.