Danske Bank to merge MobilePay with Norwegian FinTech Vipps and Pivo

By Megha Bhattacharya

Danske Bank A/S has entered into an agreement with OP Financial Group in Finland and the consortium of banks behind Vipps in Norway to merge the three mobile payment providers MobilePay, Vipps and Pivo. The companies aim to join forces to further strengthen product development and innovation and thereby provide better customer experience within payment solutions – while at the same time giving personal as well as business customers access to the best features of each of their existing solutions.

“MobilePay has been a fantastic success. At Danske Bank, we are proud to have developed MobilePay, which is providing free, user-friendly and innovative solutions to our users and easy, seamless payment solutions to businesses. However, it is very expensive to compete with global competitors in this space and in order to continue to develop the most attractive solutions for our customers, MobilePay must be part of something bigger to gain scale and pool investments for further innovation,” says Glenn Söderholm, Head of Personal & Business Customers in Danske Bank, and continues:

“No partnership would be better than teaming up with Norwegian Vipps – it is the perfect match for MobilePay. At the same time, it is a great strength that Pivo, owned by Finland’s largest bank, OP, will also be part of the merger. We are proud to take part in creating a new and future-oriented fintech business in the Nordic region, and Danske Bank will continue to be a dedicated co-owner of the new business.”

The banks behind Vipps will own 65% of the new parent company, Vipps AS. Danske Bank will own 25% and the OP Financial Group will own 10%.

“By bringing a number of well-known brands into the ownership of a joint company, we will be strongly positioned in the market and ensure that we have the necessary scale to continue rapid growth. At the same time, we want to convey the message to other leading banks and platforms that we are open for dialogue. It is especially important for us that MobilePay’s close cooperation with the other Danish banks can continue. The potential participation of other banks may further underpin the ambition to create a strong European player in the payment area,” says Claus Bunkenborg, CEO of MobilePay and future member of the executive board of the new company.

The merger is expected to result in a one-off gain for Danske Bank of approximately DKK 400-500 million. The merger is conditional on approval by the relevant authorities, including the European Commission.