Major Nordic banks are coming together to explore the possibility of a regional cross-border payment infrastructure between the different Nordic countries of Sweden, Denmark, Finland and Norway.

These banks include Danske Bank, DNB, Handelsbanken, Nordea, OP Financial Group, SEB and Swedbank.

In a statement released by the banks today:

The Nordic payment markets are among the most advanced and well-functioning in the world delivering first-class services to individuals and corporates across the region. At the same time, and despite close ties between the countries, the current payment infrastructures are highly fragmented along national borders. A harmonization of the domestic infrastructures and the products offered would ease cross-border payments and foster further trade between the Nordic countries, stimulating growth and employment.

This is not the first time the Nordic banks have rallied together to create a unified payment ecosystem. Last year, a bunch of Nordic banks merged their mobile payments into Vipps. In addition to Vipps, DNB, banking group Eika, Sparebank 1 Gruppen and others said they would also merge their debit card service into BankAxept and their online authentication services into BankID.

Read more at Danske and Reuters.

To learn more about cross-border payments, join us on March 5-6, 2018 at the Parc 55 in San Francisco for Bank Innovation 2018. Click here to request an invitation.