P27 Nordic Payment: The World's First Multi-Country, Multi-Currency Real-Time Payment Infrastructure
An ambitious Pan-Nordic initiative to build the world's first real-time cross-border payment system in multiple currencies — one clearing platform in place of nine.
P27 is an ambitious Pan Nordic initiative for building the world's first real-time cross-border payment system in multiple currencies. It will support the clearing of domestic and cross-border payments in the Nordic currencies and the Euro.
P27 is a joint initiative by Danske Bank, Handelsbanken, Nordea, OP Financial Group, SEB, and Swedbank.
The P27 name derives from its aim to improve payments for the Nordics' 27 million inhabitants.
The P27 initiative key aims are:
- 01Create one common state of the art payment platform for the Nordic countries.
- 02Move from nine different clearing solutions to one clearing platform.
- 03Harmonized payment services across the Nordic region.
- 04Enable instant payments, both domestic and cross-border, within the Nordic region.
- 05Reach new scale and efficiency with an updated platform.
P27 will enable real-time, batch, domestic, and cross-border payments to be carried out quickly and at low cost on a secure and versatile platform. The platform will initially allow payments to flow instantly between people and businesses within Denmark, Finland, and Sweden. Then it will be extended to allow for payments across the rest of the Nordic.
Currently, Nordic has fragmented clearing and settlement infrastructure across Nordic countries; this requires banks operating in the region to maintain separate infrastructure and adhering to separate rule books in each country where they operate, which is obviously costly. Adopting P27 centralized infrastructure in the region will help banks simplify their technology stack and associated overheads.
Frictionless trade is vital for Nordic societies, and both businesses and consumers are interested in increased trade. P27 aims to reduce these barriers to trade by making cross-border payments easier and cheaper for businesses and consumers alike.
The P27 initiative started in 2017 as a joint Nordic bank project. In May 2019, an interim company was established. In June 2019, an agreement was signed with Mastercard to operate the payments platform. The plan is to go live with the first transactions in 2021, subject to obtaining the necessary clearing license and merger filing approvals.
An open-access, common infrastructure will deliver a state-of-the-art payment experience to customers across the Nordics and provide the foundation for future developments.
