P27 withdraws its clearing licence application

The prerequisites for building a new Nordic system critical payment infrastructure have changed since P27 was launched in 2019. New requirements and regulations have challenged P27’s operating model.

The announcement comes amid turbulent times for the group, which submitted its second application for a clearing licence in 2022 after its initial application in 2019 was rejected by the supervisor.It was recently made public that Denmark’s banking sector had decided to proceed with other solutions instead of the P27 project, choosing to pursue an alternative review of modernising the country’s payment infrastructure. Additionally, the Swedish Instant Payment scheme also decided in recent weeks that it will work with other players to modernise the country’s payment schemes.

The fact that P27 will not handle the Swish flow in Sweden and the recent decision by the Danish banking sector to proceed with other payment solutions has put the company in a new position.

Shaping a generation of payments

P27 is a joint initiative by Danske Bank, Handelsbanken, Nordea, OP Financial Group, SEB and Swedbank, which ambitiously aimed to build the world’s first real-time, cross-border payment system in multiple currencies. The group was established to build a common clearing platform for payments in DKK, EUR, and SEK, across Sweden, Denmark, Finland, and Norway.

One of the greatest benefits of P27 is the ability to utilise more data for innovation. If a bank could, with user permission, see more data about your purchases, including the amount, location, store, and type of product. If you purchased a pair of jeans in one location, while an app payment was used in another, this could be a useful way to detect fraud.

Another example is lending decisions. Instead of relying on traditional credit scoring, which often does not provide a completely accurate picture of a person’s financial situation, banks could use alternative data to make more informed decisions. For example, sources such as rent payments could be used for underwriting a loan for a mortgage. This, combined with other data points enabled by ISO 20022, will help to change the way products and services are designed to meet customer demands.