Mastercard has teamed up with P27 Nordic Payments Platform to deliver fast, cross-border, multi-currency account to account payments across the Nordic region, reports Jane Connolly of Fintech Futures (Finovate’s sister publication).
The partners claim this is a world first in terms of a real-time and batch multi-currency platform, which will offer immediate payments with lower costs, higher security and increased competitiveness.
P27 Nordic Payments Platform is owned by Danske Bank, Handelsbanken, Nordea, OP Financial Group, SEB and Swedbank.
After establishing the underlying infrastructure, the partnership will look to develop further common products and services based on the platform.
Javier Perez, president Europe at Mastercard, said the partnership is “evidence of Mastercard’s vision to drive real choice by being the trusted provider of new payment experiences and broadening our reach into fast bank account payment flows. The Nordic markets are global leaders in the development and usage of electronic payments and this new infrastructure will maintain their advantage over the rest of the world.”
Lars Sjögren, CEO of P27 Nordic Payments Platform, believes that the single interface will make it easier for banks to handle all payments, both domestically and internationally.
He added: “This is change for real. By joining forces across the Nordics, we will be able to develop instant payment solutions in a way that each country never would accomplish by themselves.”
Banks will benefit from real-time views of multiple active schemes, participant information, balances across schemes and a data-rich message set.
The new platform is subject to regulatory approvals and final investment commitments.
Earlier this year, Mastercard teamed up with fellow Finovate alum Strands to demo the Strands SME Cash Flow Manager enhanced by Mastercard Technology at FinovateSpring. The solution is a digitization tool designed specifically to help meet the needs of SME banking. Previously, Mastercard partnered with Vipera, to demo the Milan, Italy-based company’s SME-Pay mobile payment solution at FinovateEurope 2018.