Nordic payments processor Nets is to enable instant P2P payments to customers of all Norwegian banks who use the Vipps mobile payments app.
Users of Norwegian bank, DNB, primary stakeholder of Vipps, are already benefitting from instant payment transfers enabled by Vipps’ payment app.
The partnership with Nets will enable the extension of this real-time payment service to customers of the other 100 banks in the country partnered with Vipps, representing 40% of the total userbase of the mobile wallet.
DNB, the SpareBank 1 alliance, the Eika alliance, Sparebanken Møre and the 15 independent savings banks which also are co-owners of Frende Forsikring signed a letter of intent in February, to jointly acquire a 48% stake in the mobile payment service. Under the deal, DNB will retain a 52% controlling interest in Vipps, which is to be spun off as an autonomous joint venture.
Rune Garborg, CEO of Vipps, comments, “Using the common infrastructure for instant payments will eventually make it possible to transfer money in real-time for consumers in all Norwegian banks. In this first phase, the 100 banks involved in the Vipps partnership will have this opportunity.”
He says both parties have already begun adjustments to their systems to make the service available in the popular mobile wallet, with real-time payments expected to go live for some of Vipps’ additional bank partners before the end of the year.
Jeppe Juul-Andersen, SVP and head of Domestic Card Schemes across Nets adds: “ We will reuse most of the existing infrastructure we have already delivered with both efficiency and stability for several years, and make the necessary adjustments to accommodate for future needs.”