NextGen Nordics will bring together multiple stakeholders – the banking community, central banks, public authorities and trade and business beneficiaries – to generate community discussion, explore the benefits and offer practical advice on activating the opportunities of new technologies in the Nordic region. Register for the event here.

80% of payments now contactless in the Nordics

Nets, part of the PayTech Nexi Group, has published new data on card payments and in-app card mobile payments this week, revealing that in 2021, averageusage of contactless card payments increased from 74% in 2020, to 80% in 2021. Alongside this, a staggering 90% of payments are contactless in Denmark, 87% in Norway, 71% in Finland, and Sweden, 70%.

Robert Hoffmann, head of merchant Services at Nets, says: “The Nordic region is the most digitised in the world and certainly among the leaders in digital payments. Nordic consumers have adopted contactless as the standard way to use their payment card at physical sales locations and the pandemic has been a strong driver for these ‘tap and go’ payments.”

Enfuce launches MyCard

Finnish company Enfuce has this week introduced MyCard, a physical card which will allow European fintech firms to launch their own payment card in as little as two weeks. The turnkey card issuing service covers everything from BIN sponsorship and card scheme integration, to compliance, fraud prevention, and dispute management. Additionally, the cards are offered in a range of sustainable materials including recycled PVC, PETG, and sea plastics.

Following this, Memo Bank announced they had picked Enfuce as its card issuing provider for the launch of its expense platform, which can be integrated into a bank account.

Signicat and TrustBuilder join forces around digital identity

Norwegian identity services provider Signicat this week became part of the TrustBuilders service catalogue, allowing TrustBuilder customers to use Signicat’s identification services to unlock their online services through various European eIDs.

Reltime receives crypto license in El Salvador

Reltime, the Norwegian and El Salvadorean-based BaaS provider also received its crypto license in El Salvador, allowing them to hold digital assets for their clients. This license allows Reltime to provide for itself or for third party services such as custodians, exchanges, payment processors and wallets.

Frode van der Laak, founder and CEO of Reltime comments: “We are building a special BTC focused adaptation of Reltime for El Salvador - but Reltime aims to provide a full spectrum of Neobank capabilities to the nation and more alternatives to BTC as the nation sets to embrace other cryptocurrencies. Reltime has big plans in El Salvador, and this is just the tipping point.”

TrueLayer expands into Sweden

TrueLayer announced its expansion into Sweden and the appointment of Karl Hagner as country manager this week. This expansion comes as demands for the firm’s open banking platform continues to grow.

“It is clear that open banking is delivering that, with its ability to solve payments pain points in ecommerce, B2B, wealth and fintech,” Hagner says.

Northmill acquires merchant payments outfit Moreflo

Swedish neobank Northmill moves into B2B payments with its acquisition of Nordic eftpos company Moreflo. Moreflo, which operates with more than 2,500 merchants and 400,000 end users in Norway, Sweden, Finland and Denmark will now change its name to Northmill Flo AB.

On this, Tord Topsholm, CEO at Northmill, says: “In the future, we also see the possibility to introduce several smart payment solutions in stores. The team joining Northmill is passionate, ambitious and very good at what they do. It will be a great fit and I am very excited to see what we will achieve together.”