Market consolidation in Scandinavian mobile payments market. Three companies have merged to create one, common digital wallet for 11 million users in Denmark, Finland and Norway.

Vipps has today entered into an agreement with Danish MobilePay and Finnish Pivo to merge the three companies to create one, common digital wallet. The merger will open up for mobile payment across national borders and even better solutions for users and companies in Denmark, Finland and Norway.

Mobile payments and online shopping are growing at record speeds. This can be seen in the ever-increasing use of Danish MobilePay, Finnish Pivo and our own Vipps. It is therefore with enthusiasm that we announce that we are planning a merger of the three successful wallets into a common strong wallet.

To be competitive in a global payments market, we must leave a clearer footprint, and the merger will give us the competitiveness we need. By gathering three strong wallets and brands on one solid technical platform, we get an even better starting point for creating world-class simplification, says Rune Garborg, in Vipps.

The new joint wallet will have a total of 11 million users, over 700 million annual transactions and 330,000 corporate customers in Finland, Denmark and Norway, making it one of the largest wallets in Europe.

Enables cross-border payments

The merger will lead to users and stores getting more and better solutions at a faster pace. Among other things, we have a clear ambition to make it easy for users to pay across national borders, something we know is in demand among users.

The demand and use of contactless payments is growing year by year, and has received a further boost from the pandemic. The new company brings together the best from the three wallets for the benefit of users, stores and partners. The plan for the new company is to invest in even better e-commerce solutions, to meet ever higher expectations among Nordic e-commerce players.

According to the agreement, the current CEO of Vipps, Rune Garborg, will be appointed head of the new company. Claus Bunkenborg, who heads MobilePay today, will have a place in the management. Kjerstin Braathen, CEO of DNB and chairman of the board of Vipps today, will be chairman of the board for the new company. The new merged company will be headquartered in Oslo, and will be subject to Norwegian supervision.

The merger requires approval from relevant authorities such as the European Commission. We expect the approval process to take time, perhaps up to a year. Until then, the business in Vipps will continue as before.

BankAxept and BankID merge into one company

As part of the process of merging Vipps with MobilPay and Pivo, Vipps will merge with BankAxept and BankID. This means that BankAxept and BankID are merged into one company that is still 100% owned by the Norwegian banks. The owner banks are united in their desire to continue their ownership and further development of national infrastructure for ID and payment. A national ownership provides the necessary speed and focus going forward for both BankID and BankAxept. The time of the demerger depends on when the merger agreement between Vipps, MobilePay and Pivo is approved by the relevant authorities. We will start planning, but will not complete the demerger until the merger is approved.

Facts about the new company:

• The new company will have over 500 employees throughout Denmark, Finland, Norway and Lithuania.
• The merger will create one of the largest wallets in Europe.
• All three current brands will continue for the time being. Users of the three wallets can still use their apps as normal in the future, and potential changes cannot take place until the merger has been approved by the authorities.
• The plan is that Vipps’ technology platform will be used in the future. It is further developed to meet Danish and Finnish requirements, and the other two wallets will then be migrated to a common platform. Vipps has a modern cloud platform, which will form a common basis for increased product innovation.
• The planned merger does not affect the current distribution agreements between Vipps and the Norwegian distribution banks, or between MobilePay’s Danish and Finnish partner banks. OP Bank, the owner of Pivo, will be the distributor of the new joint wallet in Finland.
• The ownership structure for the new company will be as follows: Vipps’ Norwegian owner banks: 65%; Danske Bank: 25%; and OP Financial Group: 10%.