The initiative taken by Finland, Sweden, Norway, Denmark, and Estonia reflects growing regional concerns about the resilience of critical infrastructure amid increasing geopolitical tensions.
The announcement was made by a board member of the Bank of Finland, who cited heightened security threats following Russia’s invasion of Ukraine and recent unexplained damage to Baltic Sea undersea infrastructure. The person stressed that the risk of major disruptions to digital services, including payments, has grown significantly in the current geopolitical climate.
Finland, where only 10% of the population relies on cash, is particularly vulnerable due to its dependence on card-based and digital payments. Since card transactions typically require continuous access to international networks, officials are working on solutions that would allow encrypted transaction data to be stored locally at the point of sale and processed once connectivity is restored.
Sweden’s central bank aims to implement such an offline payment system by 1 July 2026, to support essential purchases during outages lasting up to seven days. Norway and Denmark have already launched early versions of offline electronic payment systems and are continuing their development. Estonia is also part of the initiative, although its central bank has not publicly shared further details.
The move follows previous cyber-related incidents, including a major denial-of-service attack in 2024 targeting Nordea, the region’s largest bank, which severely disrupted customer access for several weeks.
The Bank of Finland representative also warned about Europe's reliance on US-based payment infrastructure, primarily through Visa and Mastercard, and highlighted the need for greater diversification. He stated that while the general feeling is that Europeans have options, they function via the Visa and Mastercard infrastructure, adding that a national instant payment system will be introduced in Finland in the coming years, with offline payment functionality available as early as 2026.
In a related development, Finland is planning a system of reserve bank accounts to ensure access to personal funds even if commercial banks become inoperable. Meanwhile, the European Central Bank continues to develop the digital euro, although full deployment remains several years away.
The initiative underscores a broader effort to strengthen the resilience of financial services in the face of emerging hybrid threats.
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