Bank-owned Nordic mobile payment providers Vipps in Norway, MobilePay in Denmark and Pivo in Finland are to merge and will create a single digital wallet that consumers can use in all three countries, as well as for cross-border payments.

The consortium of Norwegian banks behind Vipps has entered into an agreement with MobilePay owner Danske Bank and Finland’s OP Financial Group — which owns Pivo — to establish the shared payments platform that “will lead to users and stores getting more and better solutions at a faster pace”.

“The ambition is to create Europe’s best and most comprehensive digital wallet,” MobilePay says.

“Serving 11 million users and over 330,000 shops and web shops, the company will be one of the largest bank-owned mobile payment providers in Europe.

“The parties wish to join forces to further strengthen product development and innovation and thereby provide a market-leading customer experience within payment solutions, while at the same time giving personal as well as business customers access to the best features of each of their existing solutions.

“In addition, the parties plan to invest heavily in e-commerce, which has been growing rapidly in recent years, and to ensure users’ access to mobile cross-border payments.”

“By bringing a number of well-known brands into the ownership of a joint company, we will be strongly positioned in the market and ensure that we have the necessary scale to continue rapid growth,” MobilePay CEO Claus Bunkenborg explains.

“At the same time, we want to convey the message to other leading banks and platforms that we are open for dialogue.”

The merger is subject to approval from the relevant authorities, including the European Commission, with the go-ahead “expected in the second half of 2021 or in early 2022”.

“All three current brands will continue for the time being. Users of the three wallets can still use their apps as normal in the future, and potential changes cannot take place until the merger has been approved by the authorities,” Vipps explains.

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