Six Nordic banks have agreed to fund the development of a cross-border real-time payments platform as part of the P27 collective.
Danske Bank, Handelsbanken, Nordea, OP Financial Group, SEB and Swedbank have signed a shareholders' agreement, agreed on a business plan, and made a financial commitment that will cover all costs up until the company is financially sustainable. The ambition is to launch the payments platform in 2021.
P27's initial goal is to enable real-time, batch, domestic and cross-border payments to be carried out quickly and at low cost between people and businesses within the countries of Denmark, Finland and Sweden.
Lars Sjögren, CEO of P27 Nordic Payments Platform AB comments: "P27 will become the world's first integrated domestic and cross border real-time payments platform. The Nordic banking sector already has a leading position in Europe, and P27 will help further expand and consolidate this position. Today's decision from all of our owners demonstrates their commitment, belief, and support."
In June 2019, an agreement was signed with Mastercard to operate the payments platform. The next step for P27 is to obtain the necessary clearing licence and merger filing approvals, as well as continuing to develop the clearing platform together with Mastercard.
Finextra's Nextgen Nordics event, taking place in Stockholm on 26 November, has been shaped in collaboration with P27, and will act as the first in a series of events mapping the P27 journey, providing a hub for cross-industry, Nordic-wide information exchange and debate. Registration is open now.