Exemplifying the ongoing trend for large banks to join forces with smaller fintech companies, Stockholm-based Betalo has struck a deal with Nordea to offer its mobile money service to the bank's 1.8 million private customers.
Founded in 2012, Betalo's mobile app offers consumers and small businesses the possibility to use a card to send money abroad, transfer to Swedish bank accounts, and make bill payments.
The collaboration will have Nordea marketing Betalo’s services to its large customer base, while Betalo will integrate Nordea cards into its mobile application.
Erik Zingmark, co-head of transaction banking at Nordea, says: "Betalo is an interesting fintech start-up that understands both the user perspective as well as the complexity in building financial services. Together, we will be able to look at future digital banking services, especially when considering the opportunities that PSD2 offers."
Betalo currently claims 40,000 users for its iOS and Android app, transferring more that Skr1 billion since inception.
The firm has raised Skr23 million in outside investment, and plans a larger financing during the spring of 2017.
In a recent article for the bank's inhouse blog, Jarkko Turunen, head of open banking, reflected on the arrival of new competitors and the fast pace of change in the market for financial services. "Instead of viewing the new entrants in the market as mere competitors, we need to take advantage of their agile way of developing new innovative services - with a collaborative mindset," he says. "This is the only way, and also presents a tremendous opportunity to really take financial services to another level."