The Nordic region leads the world in the race towards a cashless society.
I tell the stories of FinTech startups from Scandinavia and beyond to the world’s media, and help financial companies based in Norway communicate with the global market in English.
Computer Weekly
Changing IT trends power banking in Norway
Norway’s banking system is undergoing a seismic shift in technology as the country marches towards a fully digitised society. Computer Weekly takes a look at the key trends in the Norwegian banking industry, from secure datacentres and world-leading digital identity solutions to the pain of moving away from legacy systems.
Norwegian mobile payments provider strikes deal with SpareBank1
Banking alliance SpareBank 1 has signed a contract with mobile payments operator mCash to use the company’s payments system in Norway. The move follows the recent launches of mobile payment apps such as Vipps by DNB and MobilePay by DanskeBank into the Norwegian market.
Nordea Bank signs Temenos and Accenture for core banking transformation
Nordea Bank AB has signed an agreement with Temenos and Accenture to implement a core banking platform as part of a major digitisation and simplification programme at the Nordic bank. The T24 core banking system from Temenos will replace legacy systems including Misys’ Midas and Tieto’s Core Banking Suite. Accenture was chosen ahead of IBM to support the integration.
FinTech Brief
Swedish e-Krona talk hots up
Momentum is building behind the idea of a national cryptocurrency for Sweden, as a team of high-profile Swedish entrepreneurs present their vision for the future digital currency.
The race towards a cashless society: China vs Nordics
Fuelled by bank branch closures and the success of mobile payment apps, the Nordic region is racing towards a cashless society. But could China get there first?
DanskeBank: Leading the cashless charge in Scandinavia
In many countries, the idea of a cash-free society seem far-fetched. Scandinavia is nearly there. As Bloomberg har reported, Denmark’s Central Bank has already stopped producing banknotes: “As recently as 1991, cash and checks were responsible for 82 percent of Danish transactions. The check went the way of the Dodo in late 1990s, while the use of cash has been dropping steadily ever, even during the current period of negative interest rates.”
Verifone: The hard race for payment hardware
California-based multinational corporation Verifone has come a long way since pioneering transaction automation in the 1980s. With the advent of the internet in the 1990’s, the company took the lead – seemingly for good – in applications for secure online financial transactions. Today, Verifone sells merchant-operated, consumer-facing and self-service payment systems to the financial, retail, hospitality, petroleum, government and healthcare industries.
Life in Norway
Meet Norway’s new banknotes
Finally after much media interest, the design of Norway’s new banknotes has been confirmed. The set of colourful notes featuring iconic Norwegian imagery will enter circulation in the summer of 2017.
Central Bank investigates digital currency
Norges Bank is in the early stages of looking at how an anonymous digital currency might work in Norway’s financial system. According to a recent article on CoinBase, Norges Bank’s deputy governor spoke at an event at the Norwegian Academy of Science about the differences between money held in banks today and the proliferation of digital currencies. He set the research against the backdrop of a world in which Bitcoin and other digital currencies are starting to be adopted beyond speculative investment.
Norwegian money explained
The currency used throughout Norway is the Norwegian krone. It is also informally accepted in many shops in Sweden and Finland that are close to the Norwegian border. The currency is also informally accepted in certain tourist shops in Hirtshals and Frederikshavn, both popular ferry ports in Denmark.