Project 27 payments platform preps for pilot launch

The plan for a pan-Nordic payment network will see formal investment and the creation of a legal entity later in 2019. As reported in 2018, Danske Bank, DNB, Handelsbanken, Nordea, OP Financial Group, SEB and Swedbank have discussing their idea to create an area for domestic and cross-border payments in multiple currencies. Called Project 27 – so-called for the 27 million people who live in Sweden, Norway, Denmark and Finland – it builds on the smartphone payment applications that Nordic banks have already created, like Swish in Sweden, Norway’s Vipps, and MobilePay in Denmark.

At the end of 2018 the seven CEOs of the seven founder Nordic banks met together to approve the formal investment in the P27 company. During the first part of this year, this has to go through formal board approval in the banks. Following that, it will begin taking the formal step to create the legal entity.

Once formal investment is done, it will begin merger filing with the European competition authorities to get the company up and running. In parallel with that, it will file for a clearing licence with the Swedish Financial Supervisory Authority. It is aiming for the first transactions made on the P27 infrastructure to run in pilot mode in Q2 2020. A migration plan is currently being delivered regarding how it will migrate volumes onto the new infrastructure – with instant payments in Norway being the first phase.