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Denmark 2026

Market Overview
Payment Organisation BOKIS, interbank organisation of the small Danish banks.

MobilePay Denmark, operator of the mobile payment service, MobilePay.
Domestic Payment Brands Dankort debit cards; co-badged VISA for international use.

MobilePay is the mobile A2A payment service in Denmark.
Market Structure Card use, already among the highest in Europe, hit 456.1 card payments per capita (207.2 on Dankort cards) in 2024.

Transformation of the Dankort scheme from 2015: contactless cards, mobile HCE NFC payments, and use of BLE technology.

In 2021, Mastercard completed an agreement with NETS which included the acquisition of Betalingsservice, for which Mastercard is thus the new system owner. As of 2021, Dankort and Betalingsservice are subject to separate oversight, with Danmarks Nationalbank overseeing both NETS and Mastercard.

In March 2014, the Danish and Norwegian banks sold NETS for $3.1 billion to the private equity investors Advent International, Bain Capital and ATP. In September 2017, NETS Group agreed a $5.3 billion bid from private equity investor. In November 2020, NETS was acquired by Italian processor Nexi for $9.2 billion.

In August 2019, Mastercard acquired NETS real-time payments business.

Emerging Open Banking payment ecosystem
Notable Market Trends Contactless rollout: cards, MPOS terminals, HCE NFC pilots,
mobile payment apps, MobilePay, Immediate Payments.In 2024, B2C online e-commerce revenue increased by 3.2% to €25.70 billion.
Major Card Issuers Danske Bank, Nordea, SEB Kort Danmark, Jyske Bank.
Major Card Acquirers Teller, SEB Kort, Danske Bank.
Major Card Processors NETS (Nexi), the pan-Nordic processor.

Key Statistics 2024
Population 5.97 million, with 1.67 bank cards per capita.
Cards Debit: 8.35 million, thereof 4.48 million cards branded Dankort

Credit: 1.59 million

Total: 9.95 million
Card Payments Debit: 2.65 billion; value DKK 761.12 billion (€102.04 billion)

Credit: 91.17 million; value DKK 70.18 billion (€9.4 billion)

Total: 2.74 billion; value DKK 831.30 billion (€111.5 billion)
POS Terminals 146,400
POS Payments All cards: 1.90 billion; value: DKK 450.06 billion (€60.3 billion)
ATMs 1,702
ATM Withdrawals All cards: 32.31 million; value: DKK 55.82 billion (€7.48 billion)
Digital A2A Payments Credit Transfers: 1,269.1 million, value €17,625.1 billion
Note: Italic forecast figures for 2025F are estimated in the market context based on 2024 figures.
Source: ECB, Danmarks Nationalbank (DNB), NETS.

Introduction – Payments in Denmark

Denmark is the southernmost of the Scandinavian countries and is a sovereign state in the form of a constitutional monarchy with a representative parliamentary system. The Danish parliament is unicameral, and also encompasses governance of Greenland and the Faroe Islands.

The population enjoys a high standard of living, along with a well-developed internet and mobile network ecosystem. Denmark has the second-highest annual card spend per person in Europe, only behind Norway. Thanks to the popularity of the national debit card scheme Dankort, and its combined VISA/Dankort card, Danish consumers benefit from a national scheme that’s also accepted internationally and is recognised as the cheapest and most efficient payment system in Denmark, with transaction fees regulated by the government.

A number of international studies show that Denmark is among the most digitalised countries when it comes to payments. According to the European Commission, as of 2021, Denmark is the EU member state with the highest proportion of online shoppers. However, the Netherlands (92%) took over in 2022 as Denmark (90%) assumed second position by proportion of online shoppers. By 2024, the highest shares of online customers were declared by Ireland (96%), the Netherlands (94%) and Denmark (91%) in the third place.

More recently, the MobilePay mobile wallet gained significant traction. Although digital wallets still account for a small proportion of overall payment transactions, MobilePay has the highest usage of proprietary bank apps in Denmark, approaching 2 million daily payments on average upon its merger with Vipps. By 2025, MobilePay reported 4.74 million Danish users, as it gained 159,255 new users during the year. MobilePay handled 603.16 million payments in Denmark during the year worth over DKK 238.78 million. There were 1.65 million transactions every single day, up by 5.4% from 2024. Users sent an average of DKK 394.65 per transaction. Each Danish customer used the service roughly once every three days. MobilePay processes an average of 19.13 transactions every second. There are 2.33 million male users and 2.41 million female ones.

The adoption of the revised Payment Services Directive, PSD2, and disruptive technologies have set the stage for digital payments for the digital economy in Denmark. They have accelerated digital payment transformation and mobile payment services, as well as cardless IBAN-based payments directly from bank accounts.

In the last decade, Danish consumers have embraced mobile devices such as tablets, smartphones, and Internet of Things (IoT). This change significantly impacts their shopping experience. Consumers have become increasingly connected and they have started to purchase anywhere, at any time, from any device.

In addition, new consumer demands are a game changer. Danish consumers like digital banking apps with access to all their accounts at different banks in one single app, with the option to make payments directly from their bank account of choice. Additionally, they appreciate more banking services and payment services added to their mobile banking app. Consumer adoption of digital payments in Denmark is driven by minimal cost, secure payments, and a high level of user convenience.

Driven by the development of social media and mobile devices, the emergence of permanently connected consumers has impacted their interactions with brands but also their expectations of how to shop using the increasing number of touch points between consumers and merchants, e.g.:

The ongoing rollout of a mature online and mobile communication infrastructure is an enabler for digital card payment transformation and for Open Banking payments in Denmark.

In a few years from now, mobile banking apps and mobile payment apps are expected to combine account management, digital payment services, personal finance management and value-added digital services from location finders to digital vouchers.

Cash payments, card payments and cardless payments directly from bank accounts (A2A payments) remain all relevant for Danish merchants and heavily used by Danish consumers.

This country profile provides a brief introduction into two competing payment ecosystems in Denmark:

Legal Framework for Payment Services

The legal framework for European payment services is a joint project undertaken by the European Commission as the regulator, the European Central Bank (ECB) as the Euro System, and the European Payments Council (EPC) with the objective of standardising payments in Europe and to remove existing barriers, promote cross-border competition between payment services, strengthen the European internal market and drive the digital payment transformation.

Based on its vision, the EU Commission has therefore created a unique legal framework for cashless B2C and B2B payments that supersedes pre-existing national legislation and is binding for financial service providers and payment service providers throughout the EU.

Denmark has largely transposed this legal framework into their national payment legislation.

Historically, there has been a de facto national regulation of all Danish payment schemes with high technical barriers to ensure and defend payment security.

With the implementation of the payment services directive, all payment services in Denmark are based on the unique legal framework for payment services of the European Commission effective in the European Economic Area (EEA).

In addition, the respective rules and regulations of the domestic card scheme and the international card schemes continue to be applied by the card payment service providers (e.g. EMV, PCI, RTS SCA, and SEPA Cards Framework), respectively.

Legal Framework relevant for Payment Services in Denmark

The revised Payment Services Directive, PSD2, had established a legal and regulatory framework for payment services providers, enforcing several protections for their clients such as safeguarding of funds; and required them to execute processes in accordance with banking regulations, such as KYC and AML. It has already resulted in significant progress regarding the integration of the European retail payments markets.

Following the alignment with the EEA region, the legal framework for payment services in Denmark includes the directives and regulations of the European Commission (EC), the ECB, and/or the national central bank (NCB) of the individual country.

All card payment service providers and all cardless payment service providers of the Open Banking payment ecosystem must apply for the European legal framework including:

Revised Payment Services Directive (PSD2)
PSD2 is the key directive for borderless banking and payment services in Europe.
Among others, PSD2 regulates digital payment services and payment service providers such as payment institutions, e-money institutions, payment initiation service providers and account information service providers. PSD2 formulates the Open Banking Mandate for regulated access to payment accounts.

General Data Protection Regulation (GDPR) – effective from May 2018
GDPR establishes a regulatory framework for customer control of their data through consent mechanisms, the right to be forgotten and the right to retrieve all personal data for re-use at other service providers of choice, thereby preventing a ‘lock-in’ situation.

E-Money Directive (EMD)
The EMD sets out the rules on the business and supervision of e-money institutions.

Anti-Money Laundering Directive (AMLD)
The AMLD6 aims to improve the harmonisation of the criminal liability of money laundering and terrorist financing across the EU27.

Customer Rights Directive (CRD)
CRD gives consumers the same strong rights across the EU. It aligns and harmonises national consumer rules, for example on the information consumers need to be given before they purchase something, and their right to cancel online purchases, wherever they shop in the EU.

EU Price Regulation for cross-border payments
In 2001, Regulation (EC) No 2560/2001, followed in 2009 by Regulation (EC) No 924/2009, fixed uniform underlying conditions for processing cross-border payments in euro, and the fees for intra-EU cross-border payments in euro were aligned with those for domestic payments in euro.

SEPA End-Date Regulation
SEPA payment instruments replaced domestic A2A bank payment instrument formats for euro payments.

Card Interchange Fee Regulation (IFR)
The IFR caps interchange fees for payments with consumer cards, effective from 9 December 2015. It increases transparency on fees thus permitting retailers to know the level of fees paid when accepting cards.

Domestic bank service laws
Complementary to EC directives and EC regulations.

Characteristics of the PSD2 Outlook: PSD3 and PSR

The adoption of PSD2 has formalised the relationship between banks and trusted payment providers (TPPs) by establishing the Open Banking Mandate providing open access to customer account data and the payments infrastructure. This is expected to stimulate the Fintech market to develop new integrated services models for both consumer and business customers.

This regulation is a reaction to the growing demand from customers as mobile and internet applications have become widely adopted driving expectations in how services should be delivered across all industries. Other market segments have adopted Open Banking APIs to respond to this demand and demonstrate that innovative applications can grow business and change customer behaviour.

PSD2 has a significant impact on the European payments industry. According to the EC, the revised Payment Services Directive brings several new important elements and improvements to the EU payment market e.g.:

In 2022, the regulator started a PSD2 review process, which will end up in a revised PSD2 dubbed PSD3. While consultations are currently ongoing, the revisions are expected to address the achievements of the PSD2 and evaluate the need for a revised standard.

Proposed EC Revisions to the EU Payment Services Regulation – PSD3 and PSR 

In June 2023, the European Commission (EC) has published its proposed revisions to EU payment services legislation, as well as a proposal on Open Finance/data access in the financial services sector beyond Open Banking/payment accounts in the form of a new Open Finance framework called “FIDA”.

Essentially, the EC is proposing that PSD2 would be split into two different instruments. These will ensure consumers can continue to make electronic payments and transactions safely and securely in the EU, domestically or cross-border, in euro and non-euro. Whilst safeguarding their rights, it also aims to provide greater choice of payment service providers on the market:

The objective of the regulation is to enhance harmonisation of the rules and enforcement across the various EU Member States. In addition, the EC proposed to merge the E-Money Directive (EMD2) with the proposed PSD3 and PSR texts, so as to have one coherent regime for both payment services and e-money services, and thereby ensure a level-playing field between PIs and EMIs.

PSD3 also amends the Settlement Finality Directive (SFD) in order to allow non-bank PSPs (e.g. PIs and EMIs) to participate directly in SFD-designated payment systems. Fintechs will be given access to all EU payment systems, with appropriate safeguards, and giving them a right to have a bank account. That way, those non-bank PSPs would no longer need to rely on banks in order to execute payment transactions.

A system to check IBANs and a platform to enable payment service providers to share fraud-related information are two proposals around consumer protection, including an extension to all credit transfers of IBAN/name-matching verification services. These have been proposed by the Commission for instant payments in Euro. All consumers should benefit from them, for both regular and instant credit transfers.

The European Banking Authority (EBA) is given once again a number of mandates under PSD3 and the PSR to prepare draft regulatory technical standards (RTS) and draft implementing technical standards (ITS), ultimately to be adopted by the EC, as well as guidelines, and to continue maintaining the register.

In 2024, significant progress was made in updating PSD2. In April 2024, the European Parliament adopted the European Commission’s proposals for PSD3 and PSR at first reading. While the exact timelines for enforcement are not yet confirmed, it is anticipated that the finalised versions of PSD3 and PSR may become available by 2025.

In 2025, the EU made substantial progress toward finalising PSD3 and PSR, marking the next major phase in the evolution of Europe’s payment services framework. In June 2025, the Council of the EU reached agreement on compromise texts for both legislative instruments, subsequently endorsed by COREPER (the Committee of Permanent Representatives), enabling the start of trilogue negotiations with the European Parliament and the European Commission.

These negotiations aim to align positions on key issues, including liability for payment fraud, direct access of non-bank payment service providers to payment systems, and strengthened consumer protection. Final adoption and publication of the legislative package are expected by late 2025, after which the PSR will apply directly across all EU Member States, while PSD3 will require national transposition within approximately 12–18 months. This means the new framework could come into practical effect during 2026–2027.

The 2025 developments reaffirm the EU’s objective to harmonise payment regulation, enhance security and consumer rights, and create a more competitive and innovative payments landscape across the single market.

General Data Protection Regulation (GDPR) 

The General Data Protection Regulation (GDPR) is a legal framework that sets guidelines for the collection and processing of personal information from individuals who live in the European Union (EU). Since the Regulation applies regardless of where websites are based, it must be heeded by all sites that attract European visitors, even if they don’t specifically market goods or services to EU residents.

Adopted in April 2016, the Regulation came into full effect in May 2018, after a two-year transition period. The GDPR replaces the Data Protection Directive 95/46/EC and is designed to:

The GDPR mandates that EU visitors to all websites must be given a number of data disclosures. Sites must also take steps to facilitate such EU consumer rights as timely notification in the event of personal data being breached (breach notification). Among others, the GDPR mandates the user’s right to access its data and the right to be forgotten. In addition, the conditions for consent have been strengthened, and companies are no longer able to use long, illegible terms and conditions full of legalese. Also, it must be as easy to withdraw consent as it is to give it.

eIDAS regulation and Digital ID Trends

The electronic Identification, Authentication and Trust Services regulation (eIDAS) is a set of EU standards and regulations for electronic identification and trust services for electronic transactions in the European Single Market. It was established in the EU Regulation as of 23 July 2014, relating to electronic identification, and repeals directive 1999/93/EC from December 1999. It entered into force on 17 September 2014 and applies from 1 July 2016 except for certain articles, listed under its article 52.

In June 2021, the European Commission proposed an update to eIDAS that will enable every European to have a set of digital identity credentials recognised anywhere in the EU. In May 2024, Regulation (EU) 2024/1183 entered into force, formally establishing the European Digital Identity (EUDI) Wallet under the revised eIDAS 2.0 framework. The regulation requires all EU Member States to provide at least one interoperable digital identity wallet within 24 months of the adoption of the implementing acts, placing the expected rollout across the EU by late 2026.

Throughout 2025, the European Commission has continued to issue implementing regulations defining the wallet’s technical architecture, certification procedures, and security requirements. The framework embeds privacy-by-design, data minimisation, and user consent principles, ensuring data remains under user control and stored locally on the user’s device.

Pilot projects launched between 2023 and 2025 have been finalising testing across Member States to validate interoperability, usability, and cross-border functionality. From 2026 onward, public and private entities that require strong electronic identification will be expected to recognise and accept the EUDI Wallet for secure authentication and digital transactions across the EU.

Many digital ID schemes operate based on super-secure passwords and/or mobile apps confirmed by a second factor, either passwords or one-time token or biometric factors such as fingerprints.

Digital ID in Europe has been proliferating rapidly in recent years. To date, both the nature of these schemes and their application have varied widely – for example, BankIDs in the Nordics being used to support instant payments and the delivery of harmonised government services.

In September 2022 the Nordic-Baltic eID Project (NOBID) announced it was leading a consortium of 6 countries – Denmark, Germany, Iceland, Italy, Latvia and Norway – to deliver a cross-border payments pilot aligned with the aims of the European Commission’s EU digital identity wallet programme. The consortium’s proposal to be 1 of 4 EU digital identity wallet pilots focuses on payments. The EU digital identity wallet is a biometrically secured app that, when it comes into being, will allow citizens across the continent to easily verify their ID, access services and store sensitive digital documents.

NOBID’s proposal leverages existing payment infrastructure to enable payment issuance, instant payments, account-to-account transfers and payment acceptance both in-store and online. The project will be designed to complement wider EU plans to streamline cross-border payments such as the European Payments Initiative (EPI) and the Digital Euro. NOBID’s proposal is supported by financial services players including DSGV in Germany, DNB and BankID in Norway, NETS in Denmark, Intesa Sanpaolo, Pago and ABILab in Italy and Greiðsluveitan in Iceland.

eID platform initiative – In May 2017, a group of European companies including banks, vehicle manufacturers and technology providers signed a “corresponding declaration of intent” to establish a joint, pan-industry platform that will let their customers use a so-called “master key” for registration and identification when accessing online services across a range of sectors including government, aviation and retail.

MitID (formerly NemID) – Denmark’s national digital identity infrastructure

Denmark’s national electronic identity system has been a cornerstone of the country’s digitisation agenda for more than a decade. NemID, launched in July 2010, provided a common, secure authentication and digital signature solution for online banking, government services and selected private-sector use cases. It was widely adopted across the public sector, the financial system and Danish businesses, and became a de-facto gateway to digital life in Denmark.

NemID was managed by DanID and processed by Nets. It was available to citizens aged 13 and above and was universally used for online and mobile banking services, as well as access to public digital services.

Between 2021 and 2023, NemID was fully phased out and replaced by MitID, Denmark’s next-generation national eID solution. MitID is now the sole national digital identity system and underpins authentication and digital signing across the public sector, financial services and an expanding range of private-sector applications.

MitID offers enhanced security, greater flexibility across devices, and a more modular architecture than NemID, while preserving the core principle of a single, interoperable national eID infrastructure. It supports strong customer authentication (SCA) under PSD2/PSD3 and is tightly embedded in Denmark’s digital banking, payments and public-service ecosystems.

Biometric Authentication Services

As a form of digital identity, biometric factors have been gaining ground across Europe in recent years, especially since the EU mandated their use for national ID cards and passports from August 2021.

In the payments industry, European banks and other account servicing payment service providers (ASPSPs) have started to support new biometrics technology companies that will develop client identification and authentication systems. They will be dedicated to the research and development of software for the digital verification and authentication of personal identity, through facial, voice, image or document recognition, or fingerprint reading.

With the EU regulator’s decision to mandate Strong Customer Authentication (SCA) as part of the revised payment services directive, PSD2, biometric authentications look set to grow further in importance as part of the payments landscape.

Companies such as Sweden’s Fingerprints (for online payment ID) and the UK’s Fingopay (for physical payments) have pioneered their use in P2P and P2B transactions, while some national ID schemes such as BankID in the Nordics and nemID now include biometric factors alongside PIN in their log-in processes.

Fingerprints (Sweden): Continues to lead development of biometric sensors, especially for fingerprint-enabled payment cards and mobile devices in Europe, supporting both remote (online) payment ID and card-based transactions since 2025.​

Fingopay (UK): Specialises in vein recognition systems for physical payments, with deployments in retail, hospitality, and transport, pioneering biometric authentication for point-of-sale transactions and peer-to-peer (P2P) settings.​

National ID Schemes: Nordic BankID services (Sweden, Norway) and Denmark’s NemID (transitioning to MitID) now commonly offer biometric log-in options—such as face and fingerprint authentication—alongside traditional PIN/password, used for identification in financial, public, and private sector services.

Biometric Authentication in European Payments

Additional Trends and Initiatives for 2025

Mastercard Identity Check – Mastercard launched Identity Check in October 2016, pioneering biometric authentication for online card payments across much of Europe.​ 3D Secure (EMV 3DS) is the framework enabling these secure authentications, often using SMS codes, push approvals, or biometrics (fingerprint/face).​

Since 2024, Mastercard has expanded Identity Attribute Verification services, integrating them with new European Digital Identity Wallet pilot programs. This supports not only consumer-to-merchant payments but also richer identity checks (age, address), further reducing friction without compromising security.​

Today, 2-factor authentication for Mastercard payments may use one-time codes, fingerprint/face recognition in mobile apps, and sometimes dedicated hardware or behavioural biometrics, complying with PSD2’s Strong Customer Authentication (SCA) mandate.​

Mastercard Identity Check (EMV 3-D Secure) is supported in all European Economic Area (EEA) countries, the United Kingdom, and most other European markets, along with global acceptance in North America, APAC, and Latin America through Mastercard’s international network.​

For Europe specifically, this means Mastercard Identity Check is available in at least 30 countries (all EEA states plus the UK, Switzerland, and several others). The number continues to grow with compliance expansion and global merchant adoption.

Banking Sector

Danmarks Nationalbank (DNB) is the national central bank and supervises the Danish banking system together with Danish FSA Finanstilsynet, the Danish Financial Services Authority (DFSA). The legal framework in which Danish financial institutions and companies operate is based on European Union directives and Danish banking laws.

Denmark has adopted a symmetrical rounding policy to eliminate 1c and 2c coins. When consumers get change in cash in shops, the amount of that change will be rounded to the nearest 5c coins to reduce the need for 1c and 2c coins. Other EU member states applying a symmetrical rounding policy include Belgium, Finland, Hungary, Ireland, Sweden and the Netherlands.

It may be noted that the Danish payment system is based on a high level of co-operation and formerly interbank agreements between the Danish banks. One special aspect of the Danish model is that the technical infrastructure for the Danish POS network and for card processing continues to be based on a cooperation understanding.

On 4 November 2014, the European Central Bank (ECB), via the Single Supervisory Mechanism (SSM), assumed the responsibility of supervising the financial stability of banks operating within the euro zone. However, while the ECB has final supervisory authority over all banks operating within the euro zone, it will only directly supervise those banks classified as ‘significant’ under the terms of the SSM (by July 2025, 114 significant banking groups have been recognised). All other ‘less significant’ banks continue to be supervised by Finanstilsynet.

According to Denmark’s central bank, at the beginning of 2021, COVID-19 was again responsible for the partial shutdown of large sections of society in Denmark. Despite large-scale lockdowns, Danish GDP fell by only 0.2% in Q1 2021, mainly due to the fact that companies and households were much better prepared for life with restrictions than during the first lockdown, and also because export companies in particular fared better over the winter. During the spring and summer, most of the Danish population was vaccinated and restrictions were lifted. This accelerated the economic recovery. For the year as a whole, GDP increased by 4.1%. By 2022, GDP grew by 3.8% driven mainly by strong base effects from high growth during 2021, net exports, and the build-up of inventories. In 2023, Denmark’s GDP grew slower by 1.9% mainly supported by an increase in the pharmaceutical industry. For the year 2024, GDP increased by 3.7% according to Statistics Denmark. This was primarily driven by a booming pharmaceutical sector boosting exports, significant capital investment, and increased private/public spending.

Consumer prices rose by 1.9% in 2021, which was more than in previous years. In 2022, Consumer prices remained on the rise and inflation reached 8.5% due to rise in prices of imported goods, notably energy, raw materials, and food. By 2023, inflation moderated to 3.3% due to stabilisation in energy prices and tightening monetary policy stance. Inflation eased further in 2024 to 1.9% due to lower energy prices and cooling in consumer goods prices.

Structure

Danish banks have traditionally functioned as universal banks and provide a variety of financial services. Danish banking was historically dominated by three institutions – Den Danske Bank, Unidanmark (Unibank) and Bikuben Girobank (BG Bank), which is part of the RealDanmark group.

In October 2000, Danske announced its acquisition of RealDanmark, owner of BG Bank, creating the second largest banking group in the Nordic region, now known simply as Danske Bank.

Also, banks from other Nordic markets have moved into Denmark. In October 1999, Sweden’s FöreningsSparbanken (Swedbank) acquired the Danish business bank FIH, the first substantial foreign takeover of a Danish bank. It sold FIH to Icelandic bank Kaupthing in June 2004.

Both Nordea (S) and Handelsbanken (S) bulked up their Danish operations in 2008, purchasing part of Roskilde Bank and all of Lokalbanken i Nordsjælland, respectively. At the end of 2014, 12 banks had been split up and sold or taken over by the Financial Stability Company.

According to Finance Denmark and Finanstilsynet, there were 83 banks in Denmark at end-2023, of which 54 were Danish banks, four were Faroese banks, and 25 banks were foreign bank branches. As is evident from Table 1, branches have been on a downward trend for the past five years. Finance Denmark states that there were 684 bank branches in Denmark as of 2023. Additionally, the number of banks and mortgage companies (credit institutions) has been in continuous decline since the financial crisis of 2007-2008. Since the financial crisis, only Coop Bank (2013), Maj Bank (2015), Lunar Bank (2019), and Facitbank (2019) have been authorised to operate as banks.

In 2023, a total of 22 payment institutions and four e-money institutions were registered in Denmark. This compares with more than 700 authorised payment and e-money institutions at a European level.

1 - Banking Stucture in Denmark
20202021202220232024GR 23/24
Danish banks58565654563.70%
Branches of foreign banks28292925250.00%
Faroese banks4444525.00%
Total institutions90898983863.61%
- thereof mortgage banks776660.00%
Branches of Danish banks7407017186846840.00%
Payment Institutions19222222220.00%
E-Money Institutions244440.00%
Source: Finans Danmark, Finanstilsynet

Denmark’s four biggest banks, the Group 1 banks, accounted for 60.6% of total banking sector assets in 2024. Danske Bank is significantly larger than Jyske Bank, Sydbank and Nykredit, the other significant retail players, leaving a long tail of small banks, and also outranked Nordea Bank Danmark before Nordea was reorganised (see below). Danske Bank accounted for 50.4% of the commercial and savings banks’ total bank assets in 2024.

Nordea’s banking business was split effective from 1 January 2017 and thus no longer included in the total bank asset figures. On the other hand, Danske Bank decided to split its member banks in the Nordic region, too. The result of the transactions is a completely different total bank asset figure for Denmark, reflecting the split between systematic relevant banks like Danske Bank and Nordea Group, both supervised by the ECB, and the other local Danish banks supervised by Finanstilsynet, the Danish FSA. In 2018, Nordea relocated its Head Office operations from Sweden to Finland, and Nordea’s numbers are now reported as part of our Finnish yearbook.

2 - Banks in Denmark 2024
OwnershipTotal Assets (DKKbn)Total Assets (€bn)Market Share
Danske BankDanish interests: 58%, investors: 42%3,716.0498.250.4%
Jyske BankDanish interests: 68%, investors: 32%323.143.34.4%
Nykredit BankNykredit Group (DK)246.133.03.3%
SydbankDanish interests185.124.82.5%
other banks2,898.2388.639.3%
Total assets7,368.5987.9100.0%
Note: Nordea Denmark now part of Nordea Group (SF). Figures reported in Finland.

Danske Bank has pursued a strategy of expanding outside Denmark in recent years, culminating so far in the cash purchase of Sampo, Finland’s third-biggest bank, for €4 billion. The transaction, which was completed in February 2007, included Sampo’s subsidiary banks in Estonia, Latvia, Lithuania and Russia. All the Sampo banks were rebranded as Danske banks. Previously, Danske’s biggest transaction was the purchase of Northern Bank, in Northern Ireland, and National Irish Bank, in the Irish Republic, from National Australia Group for €967 million at end-2004.

Before the Irish deal, Danske made a number of acquisitions across the Nordic region, buying Sweden’s Ostgöta Enskilda Bank in March 1997 – now Danske Bank Sweden – and Fokus Bank, now one of Norway’s largest, in December 1998. By mid-2007, the Irish banking subsidiaries had been migrated to Danske’s group-wide IT platform and Sampo’s 1.2 million customers were integrated by end-March 2008.

At the end of 2024, Danske Bank had about 260,000 shareholders. The 10 largest shareholders together held about 40% of the share capital, A. P. Møller Holding Group held 21%, and other Danish shareholders 35%. Danske said that shareholders outside Denmark, mainly in the US, the UK, and the rest of Europe, hold 47% of the share capital. In addition, around 15% of the share capital is owned by retail investors.

In 2024, Danske reported 128 branches, of which 51 were in Denmark, and 2.49 million individual customers, of which 1.7 million were in Denmark, the rest being in the Nordics and Northern Ireland.  In Q1 2019, Danske announced that, following a strategic review of operations, it would be exiting all banking operations in Russia and the Baltics, and concentrating on its operations in the Nordic countries and Northern Ireland.

3 - Danske Bank’s Nordic Retail Network at end-2024
Business UnitsNumber of customers (000s)Active eBanking clients (000s) BranchesMarket share
DepositsLoans
Banking DK (Denmark)1,6871,3415128.4%24.6%
Banking Nordic:
- Finland199.7%10.0%
- Sweden244.8%5.4%
Northern Ireland45525524--
Republic of Ireland---1.3%0.2%
Total2,4902,456118
Note: Nordic customer numbers include personal and business clients
Note: Danske divested from retail business in LT, LV.
Note: Danske Bank exited its banking activities in Estonia on 1st October 2019.
Note: Northern Ireland has market shares - see the table to the right
NOTE: Active eBanking clients DK (000s) for 2021 was corrected from 1,271 to 1335
NOTE: Active eBanking client Nordics (000s) for 2021 was corrected from 2,140 to 2035, total was corrected from 2859 to 2641
Source: Danske Bank.

Danske Strategy – In 2014, Danske reaffirmed its position as a dominant Nordic bank with a presence in Denmark, Sweden, Norway and Finland. By end-2013, Danske discontinued its personal banking business in the Republic of Ireland. In September 2015, Danske Bank concluded agreements with Swedbank Latvia and Swedbank Lithuania on selling its personal banking businesses, respectively. In 2019 Danske Bank announced its intention to close activities in the three Baltic countries and Russia.

In 2017, Danske Bank’s mobile payment platform, MobilePay, became a separate entity. This follows the launch of the new partnership model in 2016, with almost all Danish banks joining the MobilePay partnership.  In mid-2018, Danske completed the acquisition of SEB Bank’s pensions business.

During the year, Danske Bank reported that transactions at cashier’s desks in its branches declined by more than 90% over the past 10 years. The trend reflects customers’ preference for doing everyday banking via their mobile banking and eBanking solutions and making payments using their cards and mobile phone. The COVID-19 pandemic only added to this trend, leading the bank to announce in November 2020 that it would significantly reduce the number of branches with cashier’s desks.

Danske Bank continued to add new features to the app, such as funds transfers to and from accounts with other banks and the option of viewing own card PINs.

In December 2020, Dansk Bank was informed by the U.S. Department of Treasury’s Office of Foreign Assets Control that it had decided to close its investigation of Danske Bank in relation to the Estonia money laundering case with no action. The conclusions of the investigations into Danske Bank’s Estonia branch initiated in the autumn of 2017 found that Danske Bank’s branch in Estonia was misused for suspicious transactions, which ultimately led to Danske Bank exiting Estonia and the Baltics in 2019.

During 2022, Danske Bank reported that as part of its ongoing transformation, a further fine-tuning of the organisation was set to be completed in mid-2022, with commercial activities organised in three business units: Personal Customers, Business Customers, and Large Corporates & Institutions.

One of the main focus areas at Personal & Business Customers is to improve the customer experience via digital solutions and advisory services specialisation, and this led to multiple business initiatives throughout the year, including a new service model across all markets, and a digital self-service option in Denmark in relation to home finance. Danske Bank’s focus on developing digital tools that enable self-service and increase adoption rates is aimed at providing a better customer experience and a lowering of structural costs in a sustainable way.

Nordea Bank Danmark (then MeritaNordbanken), bought Unidanmark for €4.8 billion in March 2000 to create the largest banking group in the Nordic region. Nordea Bank Danmark reported over 100 branches and serviced 1.5 million retail banking customers and 65,000 SME, corporate and institutional clients in 2023.  Effective from January 2017, Nordea Group converted its subsidiary banks in Denmark, Finland and Norway into branches of Nordea Bank AB. The merger enabled the ‘One Bank’ operating model and delivering digital banking services for its clients. Thus, Nordea Bank Danmark has ceased to exist. In 2018, Nordea moved its headquarters from Sweden to Finland, making it Finland’s largest bank in terms of its balance sheet.

As at end-2017, Nordea’s Open Banking platform was launched when Finnish customer data was made available to third party developers. Nordea was one of the first banks in Europe to see the potential opportunities offered by the PSD2 regulations which require banks to open up to third parties to offer services to account holders. Since the launch of Open Banking, more than 4,500 developers have registered to test Nordea’s APIs, offering access to over 11 million customers across the Nordics.

In July 2018, Nordea acquired the online banking arm of insurer Gjensidige (N) for €578 million in cash. The agreement also includes a long-term strategic mutual distribution cooperation with Gjensidige in Norway. The acquisition closed in March 2019.

During 2020, Nordea Bank Denmark launched an account aggregation service in its mobile app, enabling customers to get an overview of all their accounts, including those with other banks. The bank also announced expansion of its enhanced netbank service into the Danish market, including an enhanced mobile version.

During 2020, in accordance with its strategy, Nordea announced it would be focusing on its business in the Nordic region. Consequently, Nordea decided to wind down its operations in Russia. On 24 March 2021 the Extraordinary General Meeting of JSC Nordea Bank decided to initiate the voluntary liquidation process, which was approved by the Central Bank of Russia on 16 April 2021.

Jyske Bank – Having a market share of 4.4%, Jyske Bank is the second-largest Danish-owned bank. It was established in 1967 and is domiciled in Silkeborg. The activities of the Jyske Bank Group are divided into three segments: banking, mortgage credit and leasing. Jyske is a public company owned by more than 140,000 individual shareholders, mostly from Denmark.

It reported 86 branches at end-2024, serving nearly 600,000 customers in Denmark, including around 40,000 private banking customers. In 2013, Jyske acquired SparLolland, and in 2014, Jyske Bank absorbed BRFkredit. In 2023, especially the acquisition of Handelsbanken’s Danish activities left its mark in the form of branch mergers. Branch mergers reduced the total number of branches by 25% in 2023. The outcome was that Jyske Bank operated across 101 branches (including 96 branches and a 24-hour customer centre) at the end of the year.

On 18 April 2018, Nordjyske Bank and Ringkjøbing Landbobank entered into a merger agreement. Jyske Bank stated it would support the planned merger of Nordjyske Bank and Ringkjøbing Landbobank. Jyske Bank entered into a conditional agreement with Nykredit to sell the shares in Ringkjøbing Landbobank that Jyske Bank would acquire following the merger.

During 2020, in line with increasing digitisation of channels and services, Jyske Bank announced it would reduce the number of branches by about 20% due to changing client behaviour. The last cashier’s desks were closed in 2019, and all outside ATMs were removed. As part of Jyske Bank’s structural adjustment, the number of physical locations was reduced from 98 to 94.

The negative impact from sale of Jyske Bank Gibraltar and the COVID-19 pandemic lowered the volume and value money transfers and card payments in 2020, but the bank did not give a detailed breakdown of figures.

In 2021, Jyske Bank introduced a series of improved functions on the Jyske Mobilbank platform in the form of extended self-service solutions relating to mortgage loans, asset and pension overviews as well as digital access to Jyske Bank ‘s services.

In mid-2022, Jyske Bank announced plans to acquire Svenska Handelsbanken’s activities in Denmark. The transaction was expected to close in Q4 2022, subject to receipt of approvals from the relevant regulatory and anti-trust authorities. Handelsbanken Denmark’s clients and data are expected to be migrated fully in 2023. The integration of the former Handelsbanken Denmark was successfully completed in 2023.

The acquisition of Handelsbanken Denmark will boost Jyske Bank’s market position, expanding the size of its business by around one-fifth, with the acquisition improving economies of scale, enabled by the combined platform. As of 2021, Handelsbanken Denmark had 43 branches and around 130,000 clients. The acquisition will create a combined branch network of 123 branches across Denmark. In December 2022, Jyske Bank took over the activities of Svenska Handelsbanken in Denmark.

At the end of 2024, the number of Jyske Bank shareholders was about 140,000. About 76% of the share capital is held by Danish investors, while one shareholder reported that it owned more than 5% of the share capital. At the end of 2024, BRF holding Danmark owned 27.71% of the share capital and is the largest shareholder of Jyske Bank. In addition, at the end of 2023, Jyske Bank owned own shares corresponding to 0.03% of the share capital.

In June 2023, Jyske Bank announced the acquisition of PFA Bank and the acquisition was implemented in October 2023 following approval by the Danish Competition and Consumer Authority. Jyske Bank took over approx. 10,000 personal customers and private banking customers, deposits of DKK 0.7bn, assets under management of DKK 16.1bn and 43 employees through the acquisition.

Sydbank was established in 1970 as a result of the merger of four local banks in Southern Jutland. It had 54 branches in Denmark and three branches in Germany as at end 2024. Sydbank had over 430,000 customers at end-2024. Sydbank claimed to have a 10% SME market share in Denmark. On 2 November 2012, Sydbank took over all activities from Toender Bank, and in December 2020 Sydbajk acquired DiBa Bank. Sydbank is a public company owned by 105,000 individual shareholders.

In November 2020, Sydbank announced the acquisition of Alm. Brand Bank which is expected to improve Sydbank’s profit by around DKK 100 million as a result of the acquisition as from 2022.

Digital Challenger Banks 

A number of digital challenger banks have entered Denmark, e.g. N26, Revolut and Wise. They already have a clear Open Banking strategy in place.

In parallel, many Danish banks co-operate and partner with trusted digital payment providers and Fintechs to prepare for the Open Banking ecosystem, enrich their digital banking services, and to offer additional mobile banking app features.

Lunar Way – In August 2019, digital bank Lunar Way was granted a full European banking licence by the Danish Financial Supervisory Authority. In October 2018, Lunar Way expanded into Sweden, furthering its ambitions to become a pan-Nordic alternative to the region’s traditional financial services institutions. In April 2020, Lunar Way secured an additional €20 million in funding to drive its expansion plans. In July 2021, Lunar Way raised €210 million in Series D funding led by Heartland, Kinnevik and Chinese tech firm Tencent. Lunar’s customer base grew by more than 90% during 2020 and the bank received applications from more than half of newly established Danish SMEs in 2021. The funding will drive Lunar’s expansion across the Nordic region and help fund further acquisitions. In total, Lunae has raised over €300 million in equity funding.

In October 2021, Lunar Way announced the acquisition of payment gateway Paylike, enabling it to offer customers a one-stop checkout service for business customers.

In March 2022, Lunar Way raised €70 million in funding for the rollout of crypto trading and B2B payments products, and announced plans to acquire Norway’s Instabank for €132 million. As of mid-2022, Lunar Way raised over €345 million in total funding, with a valuation of around €2 billion. It counts 500,000 customers across Sweden, Norway and Denmark.

In February 2023, Lunar raised €35 million in funding mainly from existing shareholders to invest in the business, shorten the path to profitability and create more value for shareholders. This brings total funding raised by the company to €460 million. As of February 2023, Lunar claimed to have 630,000 users, an increase of 130,000 from a year earlier.

In March 2022, Lunar announced plans to acquire Norwegian digital bank Instabank for €132 million. Lunar said the deal would significantly increase its footprint in Norway and additionally open the door to the Finnish market ahead of launching its full product offering. However, in September 2022, Lunar announced the lapse of its offer due to its inability to obtain the required capital and regulatory approval for the acquisition of Instabank.

In July 2023, UK Neobank ‘Monzo’ announced merger talks with Lunar. Monzo boasts 7.4 million UK customers as of June 2023 compared to Lunar’s 650,000 users across Denmark, Norway and Sweden. By merging with Lunar, Monzo would gain access to Lunar’s key SME lending capabilities – an area Monzo appears to have underinvested in compared to other, more profitable challengers worldwide. Similarly, this deal would give Monzo access to the European market – something that has become much more difficult for UK companies in the post-Brexit world. By October 2023, the merger talks were dispelled by Lunar’s CEO.

In December 2024, Lunar spun off its Banking-as-a-Service (BaaS) division into a standalone entity named ‘Moonrise’. This move aims to provide enterprise payment solutions to challenger banks and Fintechs, facilitating easier access to the Nordic market. Moonrise leverages Lunar’s existing infrastructure to offer services such as Nordic payment accounts and clearing infrastructure for DKK, SEK, and NOK payments.

As of January 2025, Lunar announced the launch of cryptocurrency trading services in Norway. This expansion allows Norwegian customers to seamlessly and securely trade cryptocurrencies directly through the Lunar app.

Digital Banking 

All Danish retail banks offer online banking services and mobile banking apps to their clients. Services available include balance and transaction reporting and payment initiation. All Danish banks offer advanced mobile banking apps (see Mobile Payment Initiatives below). In 2024, 98% of all Danish bank clients were e-banking users. With 5.4 million Danish consumers using online banking and mobile banking, a high level of digital banking infrastructure roll-out has been achieved.

There is no bank-independent electronic banking standard in Denmark; each bank offers its own proprietary system for corporate banking purposes.

More than two-thirds of Danish companies use an electronic transaction reporting and balance system. Most systems provide intra-day balance data as well as cross-border and multibank functionality.

E-Faktura and eFacto are online electronic invoice and bill presentment schemes used by Danish companies.

The Danish Bankers Association’s standardisation unit, now part of Finance Denmark, developed a Nordic XML-based standard MIG (Message Implementation Guideline), based on C2B payment initiation, for e-banking in conjunction with its Finnish, Norwegian and Swedish counterparts. Nordic MIGs for other XML-based messages (Payment Cancellation Request and Payment Status Report) have also been introduced.

The ubiquity of Dankort card use and growth of online banking and mobile banking means that electronic banking continued to grow, while the number of Danish branches and bank employees is gradually declining.

Mobile banking apps with added mobile money transfer services include MobilePay from Danske Bank, the Bokis wallet, and PayPal. In March 2018, Danske Bank (DK) invited Finnish banks to join MobilePay.  As of 2023, 70% of Danes reported a recent online purchase with MobilePay, and 44% of respondents said it was their most preferred payment method too.

MobilePay/Vipps experienced record growth during the pandemic years and crossed more than 1 million daily payments on average in 2021, driven primarily by a surge in e-commerce and peer-to-peer usage. By that point, Danish consumers were already spending more via MobilePay online than in physical stores, with online transaction value growing sharply and accounting for the majority of merchant payment growth.

Since then, MobilePay has continued to expand as part of Vipps MobilePay, following the operational merger of the Danish, Norwegian and Finnish schemes. The platform has shifted from a pandemic-driven growth phase to structural, infrastructure-level adoption, particularly in online commerce, subscriptions, public payments and recurring billing.

MobilePay is now deeply embedded in everyday payments behaviour in Denmark:

Merchant acceptance has expanded significantly beyond the 2021 level of ~207,000 stores and webshops, reflecting:

4 - MobilePay (Vipps) in Denmark Key Figures
20202021202220232024GR 23/24
Registered users (m)4.24.44.64.54.75.38%
Merchants150,000207,000300,000325,000427,00031.38%
Number of payments (m)354.0424.0503.0557.0603.28.29%
- of which retail payments (m)130.0213.0245.0269.4296.410.00%
Value of payments (DKKbn)124.0160.0189.0213.0238.812.11%
- of which retail payments (DKKbn)33.069.079.491.3104.915.00%
ATV per credit card payment (DKK)350.28377.36375.75382.41395.893.53%
Source: MobilePay
NOTE: Vipps MobilePay was born on 1 November as a merger between the two companies and brands:https://www.mobilepay.dk/nyheder/2023/01/17/paa-vej-mod-den-staerkeste-betalings-wallet-i-norden
NOTE: Number of merchant is for vipps mobilePay

Vipps, MobilePay and Pivo – In June 2021, the Norwegian mobile payment service Vipps, owned by a consortium of Norwegian banks, and Finland’s Pivo, owned by OP Financial Group, announced they would merge with Danske Bank’s MobilePay service. The ambition was to create Europe’s best and most comprehensive digital wallet.

The Norwegian banks behind Vipps were set to own 65% of the new parent company, with Danske Bank owning 25% and OP Financial Group owning 10%. The merged business was set to build the common technology platform starting from Vipps’ platform, to run fully in the public cloud.

In September 2022, following a dialogue with the EC’s Directorate-General for Competition, the owner banks behind the planned merger of the three mobile payment providers reached the decision that OP Financial Group in Finland would not be a co-owner and that Pivo will not be part of the merger. The EC expressed concerns about both MobilePay and Pivo being part of the merger, since this would result in the merger of two sizeable players in Finland. The EC’s view was that the merger would thus adversely affect competition in the mobile payment space in Finland. The planned merger, as amended, has been filed to the EC and awaits approval later in 2022. MobilePay in Denmark and Finland will still merge with Vipps.

When created, the new joint company based on Vipps and MobilePay will have almost 11 million users and more than 400,000 physical shops and webshops as customers, who combined, carry out about 900 million transactions each year. The name of the new company will be Vipps MobilePay AS.

In connection with OP Financial Group withdrawing from the agreement, the ownership ratio between Danske Bank and the Norwegian banks will remain the same. This means that instead of an ownership share of 25%, Danske Bank will have an ownership share of 27.8%, while the consortium of banks behind Vipps will have an ownership share of 72.2% instead of 65%.

Vipps MobilePay – Following the approval of the merger between Vipps and Mobile Pay, Vipps MobilePay is one of Europe’s largest Fintech companies. The combined entity now boasts 12 million users and more than 540,000 stores and webshops across the Nordics in 2024. As of 2024, the combined company reported 1.35 billion annual transactions. In Norway, Vipps has so far reached around 582 million transactions (127 transaction per user during the year), while MobilePay has reached 572 million transactions across Denmark and 173 million in Finland throughout the year. In September, Vipps was launched in the Swedish market, with cross border transactions and person to person payments as the first products. By the end of 2024, there were about 70 000 Swedish users that made 71,000 transactions.

Among individual banks, during 2021, Nordea Denmark expanded support through its digital channels to help customers weather the impact of the COVID-19 pandemic. Customer uptake of digital solutions further increased, with 7% more customers using the mobile bank than a year ago and increased inflows through digital channels. During 2021, Nordea launched several new digital self-service functionalities to make it easier for customers to manage their mortgages. In 2022, Nordea’s mobile bank was ranked as number one mobile bank based on customer and analyst ratings in the Nordics. There was an 8% growth in the number of logins to the bank’s mobile and online banking services in 2024 to 1.5 billion logins. By end-2024, 5.2 million customers actively used the app and. Online banking platform of the bank, 25% more than in early 2022.

During H2 2021, the bank reported an uplift in demand for consumer loans and credit card lending, supported by digital sales capabilities and enhanced digital product availability. Nordea also added new functionalities in the netbank and mobile app, extending its account aggregation service to customers in Finland, enabling them to get an overview of all their accounts, including those outside Nordea. In 2022, the number of customer interactions with personalised digital messages in the mobile bank and netbank increased by 50% compared to 2021. No update was provided in 2023.

In 2024, Danske Bank reported 2.45 million internet banking customers in total, of which 1.34 million internet banking customers and 1.06 million mobile banking customers were in Denmark. The mobile banking app had more than 725,000 daily logins in 2022.

In 2020, Danske Bank announced a new partnership with AltaPay, an international payment solutions provider, to develop solutions for receiving payments across channels, including online, in-store and mobile, with multiple international payment methods attached. Danske Bank also unveiled a Mastercard-based app to manage business receipts and expenses together with Zenegy, a tech start-up specialising in cloud-based salary systems. The app was set to be launched in 2021. In 2022, the bank welcomed the first customers on the AltaPay payment processing platform, which offers full payment data and cost transparency regardless of whether payments are executed as e-commerce or in-store payments or via mobile channels. In February 2025, Market Pay Group (a pan-European payments platform) agreed to acquire AltaPay, strengthening its Scandinavian presence and enhancing its payment capabilities across markets including Denmark, Sweden, Norway and the UK.

In Q4 2021, Danske Bank launched a new solution called Marketplace, where customers are able to browse products and initiate the ordering process themselves, which empowers them to cover new needs within a short time frame. Additionally, Marketplace enables customers to explore new and relevant solutions offered digitally. The solution was initially launched in Sweden, and the rest of the Nordic markets will follow in 2022.

5 - Danske Online Banking
20202021202220232024GR 23/24CAGR 5Y
Number of active e-banking customers (000s)2,3652,3702,4482,5042,456-1.92%1.63%
- of which from Denmark (000s)1,2711,3711,3311,3601,341-1.40%1.42%
Number of mobile banking customers in Denmark (000s)8819219991,0471,0611.34%5.01%
Mobile banking customers as % of e-banking customers in Denmark 69%67%75%77%79%2.77%3.54%
Number of app downloads aggregated (iPhone, iPads and Android)513,557599,491689,800666,256666,217-0.01%-14.39%
Number of self-service e-banking payments and transactions (000s)*48,92625,59328,36031,06933,7688.69%-6.65%
Number of self-service mobile banking payments and transactions (000s)67,19161,52453,99253,14757,8548.86%1.71%
e-, mobile and tablet banking transactions/total payments and transactions*95%95%95%96%96%0.31%1.12%
Note: e-banking customers include those using mobile and tablet banking.
Note:* direct debits and automatic payments are not included.
Note: from Q3-2020 tablet banking is now included in mobile banking.
Source: Danske Bank

Account Aggregation Services – In January 2018, Danske Bank embraced the Open Banking era, revamping its mobile app to let Nordic customers view data from their accounts with other providers. From April 2018 Swedish customers were able to gather payment and bank details of all the banks that they use and see it within the app. Denmark, Norway and Finland followed later in 2018.

In December 2018, Danske Bank and DNB (N) invested €5.2 million in Nordic API Gateway, a data sharing utility launched by account aggregation and budgeting app Spiir. Founded in 2011, more than 400,000 Nordic customers (including 200,000 Danish consumers) use Spiir to manage their budget, monitor their spending and find less expensive alternatives for their fixed expenses. For the account aggregation element, Spiir has set up its own Nordic API Gateway as a data sharing utility for banks in advance of the development of individual bank API platforms.

Danske Bank topped up its initial investment of €3.3 million in Spiir made in May 2018 with a further €5 million in April 2020, and made room for DNB, as the three parties bid to position Nordic API Gateway as an industry infrastructure for PSD2. In April 2020 DNB and Danske Bank invested a further €4.6 million in Spiir. In September 2021, Spiir was acquired by Mastercard.

With online banking so prevalent in Denmark, the Danish financial sector is one of the most prepared markets for Open Banking. According to Mastercard research, there were 53 active Open APIs in Denmark as of 2024, along with 22 API aggregators and 27 Bank & Account Providers. The Nordic countries Sweden, Denmark, and Norway are the only countries where established digital ID authentication and KYC services at a pan-Nordic level are part of the Open Banking strategy. From a pan-European perspective, the regional regulatory regimes in Nordic countries seem to be slightly more advanced regarding Open Banking ecosystems and digital payment services than other countries.

Before implementing PSD2 and its Open Banking mandate, Danish online and mobile banks were already focused on Nordic banking services, credit transfer payment initiation, digital ID authentication and mobile P2P payments. Clearing is undertaken by Finance Denmark using Mastercard Payments Services as the processor. Settlement of bank payments is executed through Danmarks Nationalbank’ CSM service.

About Open API Standards

In June 2017, The Berlin Group, the European payments interoperability coalition of banks and payment processors with membership comprising bank backed ACHs and industry bodies, announced it would push a single standard for API access to bank accounts (XS2A) compliant with the PSD2 regulation.

The Berlin Group says its NextGenPSD2 Initiative provides a harmonised API standard for accessing bank accounts. Built as an ‘Access to Account Framework’, The Berlin Group says the standard offers operational rules and implementation guidelines with detailed data definitions, message modelling and information flows based on RESTful API methodology.

As of the beginning of 2021, the Berlin Group NextGenPSD2 was implemented in all EU countries, in several non-EU countries in Europe and in countries outside Europe who are focused on maintaining reachability and compatibility with the European market. Around 80% of European banks and hundreds of third-party providers (TPPs) have implemented the Berlin Group NextGenPSD2 Framework. In 2021, the group was migrated to the Open Finance task force to explore use cases of Open Banking schemes and Open Finance schemes.

Among others, European Open API sets include Open Banking UK, Swiss Corporate API, and STET Open API (F, B).

There are several important updates and recent details to add regarding Open API standards and Open Banking in Europe and Belgium. As of 2024, the Berlin Group, along with other standardisation initiatives, has significantly advanced Open API and Open Finance frameworks, resulting in broader industry adoption and interoperability.​

Berlin Group and OpenFinance API Framework

European Open API Sets and Industry Expansion

These developments mark a transition from PSD2-driven access to a much wider Open Finance landscape, with almost universal bank API implementation, extensive support for business and consumer account types, and expanding services enabling secure, data-driven payments and financial innovations across Belgium and greater Europe.

The Nordic banks started a process of developing a so-called Nordic API set for the Nordic region. In April 2021, Nordic API Gateway teamed up with BEC, a Nordic Fintech provider, in an effort to enable 27 banks in Denmark to offer Open Banking services for their banking customers. The collaboration is expected to provide 20-30% of Danish banking customers the ability to see and pay with accounts from other banks as well as getting a full overview of their finances across several banks.

This announcement followed Nordic API Gateway partnering with Santander Consumer Bank to deliver open banking capabilities for Santander’s new consumer-focused money app Prosper. The app is expected to offer Nordic users a complete financial overview across banks by leveraging account aggregation and payment initiation services. Lunar Way also selected Nordic API Gateway to enable account aggregation in August 2020 across Denmark, Sweden and Norway. In April 2021, Nordic API Gateway changed its name to Aiia and in September 2021, Aiia was acquired by Mastercard.

Danske Bank and Open Banking APIs – Danske Bank was an early European mover in Open Banking, launching its first public API programme in June 2017 as part of a broader strategy to embrace API-driven innovation. The initiative built on the bank’s experience developing MobilePay, which had already familiarised Danske with platform economics, developer ecosystems and large-scale consumer adoption.

Since then, Danske Bank’s Open Banking capabilities have evolved from a voluntary innovation programme into a fully regulated, production-grade Open Banking platform, aligned with PSD2 requirements and now preparing for PSD3 and the EU’s broader Open Finance agenda. Danske provides APIs covering account information, payment initiation and related services across its core Nordic markets, as well as the UK and selected euro-area countries.

The bank continues to offer a sandbox and developer environment that enables third-party providers (TPPs), fintechs and corporate partners to test integrations, alongside documentation and technical support. However, the strategic focus has shifted decisively from community-building to commercial deployment, with Open Banking increasingly embedded in:

Danske’s early Open Banking engagement was complemented by regulatory cooperation initiatives. In June 2017, the Monetary Authority of Singapore and the Danish Financial Supervisory Authority signed a fintech cooperation agreement aimed at facilitating cross-border expansion and regulatory dialogue between Singaporean and Danish fintech firms. This agreement helped position Denmark—and Danske Bank in particular—as outward-looking participants in global fintech collaboration.

PSD2 and the Open Banking Mandate

The adoption of the revised Payment Services Directive, PSD2, has set the stage for Open Banking in Europe, a European Open Banking Mandate with significant impact on the financial services industry. PSD2 challenges for banks and Fintechs include Open Banking, Open APIs, and the rollout of digital payment services and mobile apps.

PSD2 lowers the barriers for market entry to third-party service providers, Fintechs, and it opens up doors for innovative players to offer services that currently do not exist, e. g. account information services, third-party personal finance management, digital identity and KYC.

PSD2 and the forthcoming PSD3, are going to change the European payment and banking landscape and ultimately the position and role of banks in the ecosystem. Fintechs are driving the change with the banking industry seeking the right strategy.

Post-PSD2, the key question for the financial service industry will be how to grant authorised access for their Fintech partners to bank account information, for instance secure access to account balance, payment data, credit risk and others.

For banks, the impact of the PSD2 is that they are no longer the only ones that have access to the bank customer information. Bank customers will now decide who they want to grant access to their payment information. Alongside this initiative, with new services based on access to bank accounts (XS2A), banks may lose the direct connection to their customers. To maintain their position in the new PSD2 reality, banks will need to adapt their business and operational models.

By mid-2025, notable challenges for the Danish banking industry include:

Payment Services

In Denmark, the law on payment services adopted the EU payment services directive (PSD) and the EU interchange fee regulation (IFR). Denmark is also going to adopt the new PSD2 – effective from January 2018.

In 2025, the more than 300 different payment services offered in Europe can be grouped into:

Card Brands and Card Types

The Danish banks issue debit cards, credit cards and prepaid cards. VISA and Mastercard are the principal credit card brands issued in Denmark.

Dankort is the national debit card scheme managed and processed by NETS on behalf of the Danish banks. Dankort cards are used for POS payments, ATM cash withdrawals and online payments. Most Dankort cards are co-badged VISA for international use.

Danish card products like consumer cards, commercial cards and purchasing cards range from classic cards to gold cards and platinum cards. Additional card features (e.g. picture cards, bonus points, PIN selection at ATMs, cashback, card control by SMS notification and other in-app controls like geo blocking) are used to attract cardholders. Also, individual picture cards and collector cards are issued on demand.

The EMV migration of cards achieved 92.1% at end-2010 and was completed by the end of 2012.

In Denmark, digital payment solutions are used for most payments. In 2024, 90% (9 in 10) of payments in physical trade were digital, according to Danmarks Nationalbank.

Since 2016, it has been a statutory requirement that all Danish consumers may have a payment card issued. In 2022, virtually all individuals had a payment card. Only less than 1% of the Danish population aged over 15 does not have a payment card.

The payment card is still the most widely used payment solution among Danes in 2023. On average, every Dane makes more than one card payment a day. But since Danmarks Nationalbank’s 2019 survey, physical card payments have declined, driven by a surge in mobile payments. With the rise in mobile payments in physical trade, around one in three payments in physical trade is made with a mobile phone in 2024. The use of cash for payments has halved from 2017 to 2023 in Denmark. There are therefore many indications that more Danes are choosing not to use cash as a means of payment in stores. In 2024, only 9% of the total value of all payments made by consumers in physical stores was made using a digital payment solution. The proportion of mobile payments has more than doubled in just two years. Overall, mobile payments have replaced cash as the second-most widely used payment solution in physical trade after payment cards.

Danmarks Nationalbank’s survey indicates that about 2.1 billion transactions were made in physical trade in 2021 at a total value of around DKK 484 billion. The number of transactions is in line with 2019, while the value of transactions in physical trade growing by approximately DKK 17 billion. In 2024, Danmarks Nationalbank reported 2.7 billion payments with a total value of DKK 831 billion.

The average Dane has access to 1.5 payment cards. The Visa/Dankort product is the most popular card. Four out of five Danes have access to a Dankort. The Dankort category includes both the Dankort and co-branded cards such as the Visa/Dankort. More than half of under-30s have access to an international debit card. The popularity and prevalence of international debit cards among the younger population could be explained by the rules on payment card issuance: International debit cards may be issued to consumers as young as seven years old, while the Dankort is typically issued only to individuals older than 18. This means that the first payment card to be issued to most Danes is an international debit card.

From July 2023, banks and other card issuers will no longer issue Maestro cards. Instead, they will need to issue Debit Mastercard. Maestro was launched in 1991 and was the world’s first debit card that could be used via an online network. About 400 million Maestro cards are in circulation worldwide, mainly across Europe. However, Maestro is not enabled for the demands of e-commerce and cannot be used for online or in-app payments, hence the decision to phase it out in favour of Mastercard Debit products. Visa announced that Electron cards will be phased out globally in 2024. The features of the Visa Debit card have been modified to match the features of the Visa Electron card.

Debit cards issued are Dankort, VISA Debit, and Debit Mastercard cards. There are no V PAY cards in issue. All Maestro cards have been replaced by Debit Mastercard cards.

Credit Cards issued are cards branded VISA, Mastercard, or American Express. There are no JCB cards in issue.

Prepaid Cards – Few Danish banks issue prepaid cards.

Co-branded cards – In Denmark, a number of co-branded card products are in circulation. Co-branded cards are based on the international card brands Mastercard, VISA, or American Express.

Danish banks issuing co-branded cards together with their non-bank partners included Danske Bank, Nordea Bank Danmark, SEB Kort, EnterCard and others.

Co-brand partners include retailers, car manufacturers, airlines, and football clubs.

Contactless Cards and form-factors

Danish banks have tested contactless payments using cards and mobile phones. In 2015, Danske Bank and Nordea NBD launched contactless Mastercard, VISA cards. Also, contactless Dankort cards co-badged VISA are in circulation. From 2015, domestic Dankort cards are issued with added contactless function using the NFC technology of the JCB card scheme. In 2020, Dankort reported that 98% of all Dankort cards were contactless.

In May 2015, Danske Bank launched a contactless biometric Mastercard card developed by Norway-based Zwipe that features an integrated fingerprint sensor as authentication device.

In a bid to compete with MobilePay, Dankort launched its own mobile wallet app in 2017. While MobilePay processed VISA and Mastercard, the Dankort app only processed Dankort. Both MobilePay and Dankort apps used Bluetooth (BLE) technology in contrast to Apple Pay and Google Pay, which use NFC technology.

In the Nordic region, Denmark has had the largest uptake of Apple Pay to date, with over 60 banks supporting the application and over 160,000 customers using both Apple Pay and Google Pay. Jyske Bank introduced Apple Pay in 2017, and states that its retail customers already use the solution 25% more often than MobilePay for payment in stores. Danske Bank launched Apple Pay for its customers in 2019.

Predefined contactless limits in Denmark – Contactless payments of purchases below a predefined contactless limit are without PIN or signature and without transaction receipt. In Denmark, from February 2018, the contactless limit for payments without PIN/signature was set at DKK 350 for cards branded Dankort, or with PayPass or payWave function.

According to processor NETS, of the Nordic countries, Denmark is the world champion in contactless payments and was the first Nordic nation with a broad adoption. At the end of 2022, the share of all card payments made contactless was 93%. By June 2024, the share increased to 95%.

In September 2022, Danish public transport fare system provider RKRP began trialling a hands-free automated app-based mobile ticketing system on bus and train services in Denmark’s North Jutland region as part of plans to develop a national digital mobility solution, combining travel planning, booking, ticketing and payment across private and public modes of transport.

In addition to the trial, RKRP invited tenders to replace its existing Rejsekort closed loop contactless ticketing system for bus, train, light rail and metro services across Denmark with a single consolidated contactless solution. As of mid‑2025, the Rejsekort app has been downloaded by over 1.3 million users and used for more than 24 million journeys, with additional features added such as ability to add children and young people to the app via parental accounts.

Interchange Fee Arrangements

International and intra-European interchange fees for non-domestic cards are set by the members of the international card schemes and apply to cross-border transactions or the use of foreign-issued cards in Denmark. The effective interchange rates for Visa and Mastercard are published by the schemes themselves and vary by card type, geography and use case.

For domestic Danish card transactions, interchange fees are governed by EU Interchange Fee Regulation (IFR) 2015/751, which continues to apply in Denmark.

Under the IFR, interchange fees for consumer card payments are capped as follows:

These caps apply to both domestic and intra-EEA transactions using consumer cards issued by EU/EEA banks.

Commercial and corporate cards

Commercial and corporate cards are exempt from IFR caps, and interchange fees are therefore higher and scheme-defined. Typical rates applied in Denmark include:

Debit Mastercard Business

Debit Mastercard Business Premium

Actual pricing varies by merchant category and acquirer agreements, but these bands remain representative.

Dankort (Danish national debit scheme)

The Dankort operates under a distinct pricing and governance model compared with international card schemes:

Dankort continues to play a key role in keeping merchant acceptance costs low, particularly for high-volume domestic transactions.

Surcharging and consumer protection

Since January 2018, Danish law has prohibited merchants from charging additional fees for the use of most common consumer payment cards, both in physical stores and online. This enforcement aligns Denmark with EU consumer protection standards and has effectively eliminated card surcharging for domestic and intra-EEA consumer cards.

Non-EU cards

The interchange fee caps and surcharging bans apply primarily to cards issued by EU/EEA banks. For cards issued outside the EU/EEA, merchants in Denmark may still be permitted to apply surcharges, although this is increasingly uncommon in practice due to consumer expectations and competitive pressures.

American Express – As a result of the EU regulation of interchange fees (IFR), American Express elected to exit all of its bank licensing arrangements in the European Union. This means that they have terminated all licenses with its existing EU partners, stopped issuing new cards and are in the final stages of the process of closing down all operations directly related to bank licensing. Over the course of 2019, American Express credit cards issued under independent operator agreements were rendered invalid in all countries of the European Union. Various banks that have up to now had exclusive licensing contracts with American Express have already responded accordingly and provided their clients with the opportunity to switch to other card brands.

From 2020, American Express Payments Europe is now the sole issuer and acquirer of American Express cards in Europe, including Denmark. However, American Express Payments Europe continues its local sales partner arrangements with local acquirers enabling the use of American Express cards at ATMs and POS terminals.

Danish law was changed effective July 2005, converting the DMIF payment per transaction paid by the merchants, to a regulated fixed annual amount depending on the number of transactions. Merchants are not allowed to pass this fee on to the consumer wishing to pay with a Dankort.

E-Money 

In Denmark, the law on e-money services has adopted the e-money directive of the EU (EMD).

Electronic money schemes are available in Denmark as prepaid cards and prepaid products. The former Danish electronic purse Danmønt was phased-out at end-2005.

In 2024, 5 EMIs were resident and registered in the country. DNB granted e-money licenses to Pleo Financial Services and MobilePay. MobilePay, owned by Danske bank and a large number of Danish banks, offers mobile bank payment services to individuals and businesses.

In addition, software-based e-money e-/m-wallet services are also offered by international payment service providers and e-wallet issuers from the EEA region, primarily the UK. In 2024, over 304 payment and e-money institutions with EU passports had notified cross-border activities in Denmark to the DFSA.

Prepaid Products – paysafecard (A) entered Denmark and launched its prepaid product, paysafecard.

From February 2012, the international e-money payment provider Ukash had been available throughout Denmark via retailer 7-Eleven. Danish consumers were able to obtain Ukash vouchers in their local currency, DKK. Ukash had an existing presence in Norway and Sweden, since February 2010 and December 2009, respectively. In mid-2015, Ukash was absorbed by paysafeCard (A) (owner: Paysafe Group).

Digital Account-to-Account Payment Services 

In the Yearbooks, account-based payment services are classified as IBAN-based payment services in SCT/SDD format offered by banks or by independent payment initiation service providers (PISP).

Credit transfers are used for high-value corporate and low-value retail payment transactions. They can be paper-based or automated. Electronic credit transfers are used by the government and companies for salary, supplier, and benefit payments. Paper-based credit transfers are commonly used for non-recurring retail payments but are increasingly being replaced by electronic credit transfers.

Denmark is a part of the SEPA initiative for €-denominated retail payments, and all banks in Denmark participate in the SEPA Credit Transfer Scheme.

Direct debits are used for low-value recurring payments such as utility bills. SEPA Direct Debits Schemes were launched in Denmark on 2 November 2009. Being outside the euro zone, Danish banks were not required to accept SEPA direct debits (SDD) before 1 November 2014.

There are four types of direct debit in Denmark:

Online bank transfers – PBS, Dankort and the Danish banks had developed the online credit transfer service eDankort to allow for paying online purchases by online credit transfer. eDankort was made available from end-2003 until end-2013. Additionally, Nordea and Danske Bank offered the mono-line online credit transfer services Nordea Solo (now Nordea Netbank) and Danske netBank to their online merchants, respectively.

The Dankort system for consumers offers e-accounts for online transactions.

Mobilpenge – In 2011, NETS developed Mobilpenge along with the Danish banks. Launched in January 2012, Mobilepenge was the first account-based mobile payment solution in Denmark. The service was connected directly to the bank account of the user, separate from the mobile service provider. The limit of use was DKK 1,500 per day. Mobilpenge was used to pay for transportation tickets, entrance to amusement parks, concert tickets and even products. In the light of new mobile banking apps, NETS phased-out Mobilpenge.

Instant payments (SCTINST) is the IBAN-based immediate payment scheme in Europe, officially launched in November 2017. It makes funds immediately available to the beneficiary – compliant with existing SCT infrastructure. The regulators will require all banks to offer Instant Payments from 2018.

Among others, the characteristics of SCTINST include an initial maximum of €15,000 with the funds made available on the beneficiary’s account in less than ten seconds, 24/7/365 real-time processing, and immediate refunds in the case that the SCTINST payment was not successful. From July 2020, the maximum amount for instant payments is €100,000.

Chaired by the ECB, in 2014, the Euro Retail Payments Board (ERPB) identified the need for a pan-European instant euro payment solution. In April 2016, EBA Clearing started the SCTINST project with more than 40 large European banks involved. In November 2016, the European Payments Council (EPC) published the SCTINST scheme and SCTINST rule books version 1.0 while the ERPB provided the governance model. In November 2017, EBA Clearing completed the pan-European instant payments infrastructure, RT1.

SEPA credit transfers and direct debits can be settled on a same-day or next-day basis. In 2019, about 50% of all IBAN-based payments in Europe were processed intra-day, or even immediately inside of the same bank group. Potential first use cases for SCTINST in Denmark may include P2P, mobile banking apps, online payments, and B2B.

As of June 2025, 2,765 banks from 36 European countries had registered for the SCTINST scheme. This represents 78% of all SCT scheme participants.

Instant payments were introduced in Denmark in November 2014. The Straksclearing instant payment solution is owned by Finance Denmark and was established in partnership with Danmarks Nationalbank. There was a sharp increase in the number of instant payments from 2017 to 2018 when MobilePay started using instant payments rather than card payments for the settlement of payments.

In Denmark, the maximum limit amount for instant payments is DKK 500,000. According to Finance Denmark, 99% of all instant payments are below DKK 10,000. Danmarks Nationalbank is cooperating with the European Central Bank, ECB and the Swedish central bank, Sveriges Riksbank, to enable effective multi-currency cross-border instant payments in the EU. Developments since 2019 show that mobile payments have become the preferred payment solution for person-to-person payments across all age groups and payment situations. According to the survey, MobilePay is the most popular solution for person-to-person payments, for instance for the purchase of goods from others and for bill-sharing transactions after restaurant visits and the like. Danmarks Nationalbank’s survey shows that last year about 250 million MobilePay person-to-person payments were made at a total value of approximately DKK 63 billion. Since 2019, the use of mobile payments has increased from around 60 per cent of person-to-person payments to around 75% in 2023.

The popularity of MobilePay for person-to-person payments has been a key element in making instant payments one of the most prevalent payment methods in Denmark, used for 2 out of 3 person-to-person payments. In 2021, about 436 million instant payments were made in Denmark, almost a quadrupling since 2016. Overall, instant payments accounted for almost half of all credit transfers made in 2021. By 2024, Danmarks Nationalbank reported that approximately 600 million instant payments were made in Denmark in 2023. This equates to each citizen making an average of 100 instant payments annually. This is particularly due to the frequent use of MobilePay for person-to-person payments. The number of instant payments has increased fivefold since 2016.

According to figures from the Bank for International Settlements (BIS), take-up and usage of instant payments have progressed faster in Denmark than in other countries in the world. One reason is that mobile payments are commonplace for person-to-person payments in Denmark – another is that MobilePay uses the Straksclearing system for the settlement of most transactions. Therefore, the take-up and usage of instant payments for person-to-person payments in Denmark have been factors in the higher adoption rate, measured in terms of the number of instant payments per capita in Denmark than in other countries. This is from a survey that is published every 2 years, and the next edition should be published in 2024.

SEPA credit transfers and direct debits can be settled on a same-day or next-day basis. In 2024, about 50% of all IBAN-based payments in Europe were processed intra-day, or even immediately inside of the same bank group. Potential use cases for SCTINST payments in Denmark include P2P, mobile banking apps, online payments, and B2B.

As in many European countries, bank transfers have been adopted for online payments, enabling consumers to pay direct from their bank account as an alternative service to payment cards.

Danish-based Inpay and foreign payment initiation service providers (PISPs) offer online credit transfers in the country, including Trustly (S) and Klarna’s SOFORT (D).

Authorised in another EEA member state, cross-border PISPs have provided notification of operating in Denmark under the EU passport system. In 2018 Lunar Way was the first company to receive a PISP license in Denmark, followed by Nordic API Gateway in 2019.

Inpay is a regulated and licensed Denmark-based Fintech company, specialising in the provision of white label cross-border payment services. Based on its payment infrastructure, Inpay delivers immediate cross border payments in 100+ countries as well as a suite of white-label solutions to financial institutions and large corporates.

In February 2018, Inpay announced the acquisition of Eurogiro. Eurogiro operates a global infrastructure that enables postal organisations, banks and other financial institutions to execute cross-border payments for their customers. Via its members, the company covers more than 55 countries on the main continents. Moving forward, Eurogiro will continue as an independent company with its distinctive postal identity and maintain the postal brand while evolving into a global open platform.

In May 2016, Stripe (US) launch its service ‘Managed Accounts for Stripe Connect’ to marketplaces based in the UK, Ireland, Sweden, Denmark, Finland, and Norway.

Advanced Payment Services

In the Yearbooks, advanced payment services are classified as online wallets, e-wallets, and/or mobile wallets with any type of payment service chosen by the wallet user to complete the payment.

In selected Danish online shops, the wallets PayPal, Skrill and Payson are offered as payment means.

PayPal – PayPal is widely used in Denmark. As of end-2024, PayPal reported 434 million active customer accounts globally, up 2.1% from 426 million in 2023. This consisted of 398 million customer active accounts and 36 million merchant active accounts across approximately 200 markets. PayPal’s total payment volume increased to $1.68 trillion (up from $1.53 in 2023) and customer engagement grew to an average of 60.6 transactions per active account, driving 3% growth in transactions per active account at the end of 2024.

During 2020, with consumers worldwide embracing digital wallet capabilities, the company launched several related services including QR Code Checkout, Buy Now Pay Later, Crypto purchasing and Xoom direct transfers to bank accounts and debit cards.

In June 2018, PayPal continued its shopping spree with a $400 million cash deal to acquire e-commerce platform Hyperwallet. The acquisition followed deals to buy Venmo, Xoom, Sweden’s iZettle (renamed Zettle) for $2.2 billion and AI-based merchant marketing outfit Jetlore, as Paypal bids to extend its reach to all corners of the payments market.

In May 2022, PayPal Ventures invested in Modulr, an embedded payments platform for digital businesses, as part of a $108 million Series C funding round led by General Atlantic, Blenheim Chalcot, Frog Capital, and Highland Europe. Modulr delivers payments infrastructure for over 200 top-tier customers, including Revolut, Wagestream, Sage and BrightPay, and processes an annualised transaction value of more than £100 billion.

In 2023, PayPal was exploring the sale of Xoom, its international money transfer subsidiary, in a bid to cut costs and focus on high-growth business areas – as of November 2025, PayPal had not completed the sale. Also, Stax Payments – an all-in-one payment provider for businesses – announced its partnership with PayPal in July 2023. This partnership will allow PayPal’s users to easily make payments with more than 20,000 merchants of Stax through a fast checkout process as well as new payment options such as Buy-now-pay-later solutions.

In 2023, PayPal launched its own US Dollar denominated stablecoin, PayPal USD (PYUSD), which is fully backed by US dollar deposits, short-term US treasuries, and similar cash equivalents and designed for digital payments and Web3. Eligible US PayPal customers who purchase PayPal USD will be able to transfer the token to external wallets, send person-to-person payments, fund purchases at checkouts supported by PayPal, and convert cryptocurrency holdings to and from PayPal USD.

In January 2024, PayPal launched AI-powered features to drive personalised offerings for both merchants and customers based on the data it possesses. These features include Smart Receipts (for merchants) which predicts what shoppers may want to buy next from the merchant. The merchant can then offer personalised recommendations, and cashback offers on this receipt. A major feature for users is CashPass which will use give users personalized cashback offers based on an AI analysis of their spending activity.

In March 2024, PayPal launched a complete suite of payment processing tools for online small businesses in the UK, Canada, and across more than 20 European markets. The PayPal Complete Payments package enables small businesses to accept an expanded range of payment instruments including PayPal, buy now pay later, Apple Pay, Google Pay, credit and debit cards, and alternative payment methods from around the world. By April 2024, PayPal added new features to its complete payments solution for small businesses to enable small businesses to accept a range of payments including PayPal, Venmo and PayPal Pay Later products. PayPal also gave small businesses access to four new features to help them drive payment acceptance and enhance how they run their business, and this will include Apple Pay as a checkout option.

In 2025, PayPal significantly enhanced its offerings for small businesses by introducing PayPal Open, a unified commerce platform that consolidates all of PayPal’s merchant solutions into a single interface. This platform provides small businesses with access to a comprehensive suite of tools, including payment processing, financial services, and AI-driven insights, all designed to streamline operations and foster growth.

Amazon Pay – was introduced in 2007. The payment service enables Amazon customers to checkout at participating third-party merchant sites using their Amazon credentials.​

Launch Date: Amazon Pay first launched in August 2007 as “Pay with Amazon,” later expanding globally and adding features for third-party merchant acceptance.​

Functionality: All active Amazon customers can use their Amazon credentials for checkout at partnered merchants – Amazon Pay is available in 18 countries as of October 2024.​

Global Usage: Over 50 million customers have used Amazon Pay for purchases worldwide, with a large share coming from Amazon Prime members, but recent statistics indicate over 3.2 billion transactions processed in 2025 and 600,000+ merchants accepting Amazon Pay as of June 2025.​

Prime Share: More than half of Amazon Pay users are Amazon Prime Members, matching your note on demographics.​

Market Impact: By the end of 2025, Amazon Pay accounts for approximately 6% of the global online payment market, processing an estimated $85 billion in payments.​

Expansion: Amazon Pay experienced 20% growth in mobile usage and 13% total transaction growth from 2024 to 2025.​

Merchant Share: SMEs comprise around 70% of all merchants using Amazon Pay.

Digital Payment Services

In the Yearbooks, digital payment services are classified as card-based payment services using EMV tokenisation security on the internet combined with HCE NFC technology in the case of contactless payments at POS terminals.

As at mid-2025, the Click to Pay online payment checkout service was not yet available in Denmark. Click to Pay replaced the previous MasterPass and VISA Checkout services respectively. Click to Pay is a joint service between Mastercard, Visa, Discover and American Express, enabling consumers to make secure one-click payments without having to enter card details or passwords online.

Contactless payments on cards using Apple Pay, Samsung Pay, or Google Pay (previously Android Pay) made by foreign users at contactless POS terminals in Denmark are processed as payments on contactless cards.

Global contactless transaction values are projected to reach approximately $15.7 trillion by 2027, up significantly from around $4.6 trillion in 2022, driven by widespread adoption of contactless mobile and card payments. Contactless mobile and wearable payments are expected to grow by over 220%, while contactless card payments will increase by approximately 119% in the same period.

Contactless ticketing spend is forecasted to surge by more than 400% globally between 2022 and 2027, with mobile NFC ticketing powered by OEM wallet solutions such as Apple Pay, Google Pay, and Samsung Pay playing a critical role in enabling seamless transit and event ticketing across multiple markets.

By 2027, 99% of all smartphones are estimated to support contactless payments, up from 94% in 2022, with average contactless transaction values roughly $28.20 for Apple Pay and $33.40 for Google Pay. Digital wallets—including PayPal, Apple Pay, and Alipay—represent the majority of global mobile payments. Mobile wallets accounted for around half of global e-commerce payment transactions as of 2022 with approximately 2.8 billion users worldwide, nearly half concentrated in Asia-Pacific, led by large markets such as China, India, and Southeast Asia.

In North America and Europe, mobile payments increasingly overlap with broader “alternative payments” encompassing all non-cash, non-card payment methods, reflecting shifting consumer preferences towards convenience and digital-first financial experiences.

Overall, the global contactless payment market is witnessing rapid growth driven by technology advances, expanding wallet usage, and evolving consumer behaviours, signalling a transformative shift towards universal cashless and contactless commerce by the end of the decade.

Apple Pay has become one of the world’s most used digital payment methods. Its user base increased from 521.4 million to 535.8 million in 2022 and now sits at 785 million users worldwide at end 2024.

This payment method is also available in over 85% of US merchants and 60% of stores globally.

As of August 2024, the estimated total Apple Pay in-store sales now sit at $268 billion, up from $213 billion last year.

As of 2023, Apple Pay processed 14.2% of all online consumer payments and 5.6% of all in-store purchases globally, global transaction volume (2025 estimate) is $7.6 trillion.

In the US its Apple Pay users are measured as ~63.9 million (2025 forecast), with in-store U.S. retail sales via Apple Pay sitting at ~$268 billion (as of August 2024).

Putting it all together, Apple Pay is increasingly becoming an effective customer acquisition and retention feature for Apple. In June 2022, Apple Pay added Apple Pay Later, its buy-now-pay-later service, allowing users to split purchases into four equal instalments with no interest or fees. Initially launched in the US, the service is expected to roll out to other countries during 2023. In 2023, Apple launched its Card savings account from Goldman Sachs with a 4.15% annual percentage yield. Apple Wallet users can set up and manage a savings account directly from Apple Card in Wallet, with no fees, no minimum deposits, and no minimum balance requirements.

In October 2017, Apple launched Apple Pay in Denmark supported by Jyske Bank and Nordea Denmark, followed by Danske Bank in 2018. In 2022, all major Danish banks support Apple Pay.

As of end-2025, Apple Pay was supported by 110 banks and payment service providers in Denmark.

Google Pay current data shows around 820 million active users across 45 global markets.

In January 2022, it was reported that the company was planning to transform Google Pay into a “comprehensive digital wallet”, following the app’s reported slow growth and the shutdown of Plex. In April, it was reported that Google was planning to revive the “Google Wallet” branding in a new app or interface and integrated with Google Pay. Google officially announced Google Wallet on May 11, 2022, at the 2022 Google I/O keynote. The app began rolling out on Android smartphones on July 18, replacing the 2018 app and co-existing with the 2020 Google Pay app in the US. While the app name itself was changed from Google Pay to Google Wallet, the service name of actually paying for things online or in-store remains “Google Pay.”.

In the US, Google Pay has over 165 million users.  Also, Google Pay is used on nearly 800,000 websites as a secure payment gateway. Roughly 20% of all mobile purchases are made using this digital payment processor. Google Pay ranks 3rd among mobile payment methods globally. In Russia, it has an online usage distribution of 35.18% and has recorded approximately 1,281,838 transactions online. Available in 19 countries, 30% of Google Pay’s active users are millennials. It is one of Canada’s top 5 online payment apps and is the primary mobile payment method for 2,193 businesses worldwide. In India, Google Pay boasts 67 million active users and holds 36.10% of the mobile application market. Its widespread adoption and significant market share highlight its growing importance in the global digital payment landscape.

In 2021, all major Danish banks support Google Pay and offer this card-form-factor to their bank clients. As of end-2025, Google Pay was supported by 99 banks and payment service providers in Denmark.

Samsung Pay is available in 29 countries worldwide and has an estimated 150 million users. Samsung Pay works with a broad range of Samsung Galaxy phones, including the latest Galaxy S22 and newer models, as well as many previous models like the Galaxy S8.

Samsung claims that its system will work with almost all point-of-sale systems: NFC, magnetic stripe and EMV (Europay, MasterCard and Visa) terminals for chip-based cards. In June 2022, Samsung Pay was renamed to Samsung Wallet in the US, UK, France, Germany, Italy, and Spain. Along with the renaming came new features such as the ability to store digital assets and digital keys within the Wallet app.

Samsung Pay was made available in Denmark in March 2020. Samsung Pay is supported by a limited number of Danish banks, primarily Danske Bank, Lunar, selected digital / challenger banks.

Overview of Cashless Payments

(See Chart – Overview of Cashless Payments 2024)

Cards are the dominant payment instrument in Denmark, accounting for 68.19% of all cashless payments by number compared to 62.34% across the EU.

Credit transfer (31.79%) is the dominant means of payment in terms of value.

Danmark Nationalbank said that it does no longer disclose direct debit figures because of data protection reasons. In addition, DNB does not collect SDD statistics for the same reason.

Cheques (0%) have declined significantly since 2005. They are typically used for high-value payments. Only cheques with a value below DKK 1,000 are guaranteed. All cheques are truncated into electronic items before being settled.

In 2024, there were 673.9 cashless payments per capita, composed of 459.6 card payments and 214.3 credit transfers.

6 - Cashless Payment Transactions in Denmark
(millions)202020212022202320242025FGR 23/24CAGR 5Y
Payment cards2,210.32,298.12,394.92,616.82,747.12,883.84.98%4.10%
Cheques issued0.00.000.00.00.0−−
Credit transfers990.61,061.01,132.91,261.51,280.91,316.51.54%5.55%
Direct debitsnananananananana
Total3,203.33,360.23,528.93,879.44,028.74,200.23.85%4.52%
Total card payments per capita379.1392.6403.7440.0459.6482.54.47%3.53%
Total cheques issued per capita0.00.00.00.00.00.0−−
Total credit transfers per capita169.9181.2191.0212.1214.3220.31.05%4.98%
Total direct debits per capitanananananananana
Total cashless payments per capita549.0573.8594.6652.0673.9702.83.36%3.98%
Note: no data on Direct Debit transactions is available in Denmark.
Source: ECB, DNB.

Exchange Rates

Danish participation in the euro system was rejected by referendum on 28 September 2000. Even though Denmark has not introduced the euro, Danmarks Nationalbank participates in the European System of Central Banks, ESCB.

The Danish kroner (DKK) is the domestic currency in Denmark.

7 - Average Exchange Rates
20202021202220232024
1 EUR in DKK7.45427.43707.43967.45097.4589
Source: ECB.

Market Infrastructure

The Nordic countries constitute the most advanced and digitally ready payment market in Europe, and one of the most advanced in the world.

In September 2018, Italian payment processor SIA provided Danmarks Nationalbank, the Danish NCN, with a new real-time gross settlement system (RTGS) that connects banks, mortgage banks and settlement systems.

RTGS has already been put into operation by the central banks of Norway, Sweden and Iceland. The new RTGS has replaced the previous in-house system that has been in use by the Central Bank of Denmark since 2001, and it secures real-time transfer of Danish kroner. Towards the end of 2018, Denmark became the first non-euro country to participate in TARGET2-Securities (T2S), the centralised European platform for the settlement of domestic and cross-border securities transactions.

In December 2020, Danmarks Nationalbank applied to join the European Central Bank’s (ECB) T2 payment system, the Eurosystem’s new real-time gross settlement system (RTGS). T2 would then include the Danish krone by November 2025. Danmarks Nationalbank has also expressed interest in joining TARGET Instant Payment Settlement (TIPS) within the same time frame. The inclusion of the Danish krone in the Eurosystem’s payment platforms will enable market participants in Denmark to use T2 and TIPS services and to settle payments in both euros and Danish krone.

T2 and TIPS services support transactions in different currencies, as is the case for the current TARGET2-Securities (T2S) system. Securities settlement in Danish krone has been available on the T2S platform since October 2018. With the participation of Danmarks Nationalbank, payments in Danish krone will also be possible in TIPS and T2.

The connection to TIPS will allow Danish banks and providers of payment services to settle payments in both currencies within seconds. TIPS uses central bank money to facilitate transfers between individuals and businesses, irrespective of the opening hours of their local bank. TIPS was launched in November 2018 to settle instant payments in euro. However, other currencies can be supported as well. T2 will replace TARGET 2 in November 2022 and will optimise liquidity management across all TARGET services.

Danmarks Nationalbank chairs and provides secretariat services for the Danish Payments Council. In 2021, Copenhagen Fintech, Mastercard, MobilePay and VISA joined the Danish Payments Council. The Danish Payments Council continuously follows developments in the Danish and European retail payment area. At the top of the Council’s agenda in 2021 were new requirements for Strong Customer Authentication for payments on the internet. The Danish Payments Council continuously monitors the development in the retail payments area, including the implementation of new legislation, and in 2022 the Council discussed topics such as the implementation of the EU’s revised Payment Services Directive. The Council’s agendas in 2022 also included a status on the development in the citizens’ payment habits in Denmark, including the development in the use of cash and digital payment solutions, as well as decreasing unauthorised use of any fraud with payment cards. As of the end of 2025, the Danish Payments Council consisted of 13 members.

P27 Payments Project – Denmark is a member of the P27 payments project, which aims to establish the first integrated region for domestic and cross-border payments across multiple currencies in the Nordics and Scandinavian regions. P27 is an initiative from Danske Bank, Nordea, Swedbank, Handelsbanken, SEB and OP to serve the region’s 27 million people, creating the world’s first integrated domestic and cross border real-time payments platform, a vital step for trade between Nordic countries.

In February 2018, the major Swedish, Danish, Norwegian and Finnish banks banded together to explore the possibility of establishing a pan-Nordic payment infrastructure supplemented by common products, with the aim of making it possible to clear immediate payments and settle accounts within seconds, regardless of currency. The P27 project – so-called for the 27 million people who live in Sweden, Norway, Denmark and Finland – will build on the success of the mobile bank payment apps of the Nordic banks like Swish in Sweden, Norway’s Vipps, and MobilePay in Denmark.

The collaboration reflects an effort to stay ahead of global technology giants like Apple and Samsung as customers no longer rely exclusively on their banks for financial services. The difference between P27 and the payment apps Nordic banks already offer is the cross-border nature of the project.

To facilitate this, P27 acquired the Swedish clearing house Bankgirot in October 2020. Bankgirot manages transactions of a total value of approximately SEK 73 billion per day. In July 2021, P27 Nordic Payments secured merger approval from the EU Commission to establish its pan-Nordic payments platform.

In June 2022, P27 announced that 13 banks connected to Swedish mobile payments system Swish were set to test on P27 by the end of 2022. Banks connected to Swish, which is used by more than 90% of the Swedish population, are at the front of P27’s drive toward processing the platform’s first transactions. The current timeline calls for SEK instant preparations to be finalised during H2 2022, followed by SEK batch preparations to be finalised in early 2023.

The Danish central bank has approved the inclusion of the Danish krona in the European Central Bank’s real-time settlement system TIPS, paving the way for the Danish krona to be used in the P27 platform. A transformation committee has already been set up in Denmark to facilitate the transition towards P27.

Together with Finance Denmark, P27 has clarified how it will conduct the integration with Target Services and how the Danish retail payments are to be consolidated in P27. As P27 was established in Sweden, the Danish Capital Markets Act has been amended to ensure that Danmarks Nationalbank’s supervisory powers over retail payment systems in Denmark and the Danish Financial Supervisory Authority’s ability to exercise IT supervision of the systems are maintained.

However, in April 2023, P27 announced the withdrawal of its clearing license from the Swedish Financial Supervisory Authority (Finnsinspektionen) as a result of new requirements and regulations that have challenged its operating model. While this reflects the continuously evolving landscape for payment infrastructure, it poses a major setback to the ambitious vision. Finland and Norway are yet to make formal statements. However, 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.

In March 2025, the P27 project resurfaced and Bankgirot is leading the new work on P27. The project’s objectives are now continuing under Bankgirot, with a modernised Swedish payment infrastructure set to launch in early 2026 and complete by year-end.

Nordic KYC Utility (now Invidem) – In June 2018, six Nordic banks decided to explore the possible establishment of a Nordic Know Your Customer (KYC) infrastructure. The banks DNB Bank, Danske Bank, Nordea Bank, Svenska Handelsbanken, Swedbank and Skandinaviska Enskilda Banken (SEB) established a joint venture, Nordic KYC Utility, with a focus on developing a secure and cost-effective Nordic KYC infrastructure.

The company will be owned and controlled by the founding banks; however, the plan is that the company will also offer its services to third parties. The initiative will contribute to ensuring a healthy financial environment, prevent financial crime and to protect customers and society.

The operational start of the joint venture company received approval of the European Commission under the EU Merger Regulation, and in late June 2019, Invidem was formally launched. Invidem will create a common Nordic platform based on advanced data management technologies to enhance the collection and management of bank customer information.  Although the primary target is to enhance data competence, the joint venture also aims to raise the technology competence of the six participating banks against the wave of well-resourced global tech giants entering the financial services space such as Google and Apple. Having launched its KYC service in the Nordic market in September 2021, in April 2022 Invidem entered into an agreement with its seventh and first non-owner client, Swedish fund management company Indecap Fonder.

In April 2023, Invidem announced that it was winding down after the regulatory and technological development in recent years changed the prerequisites for the business and made the task more complex than was anticipated.

MitID (replacing NemID) – Denmark’s national digital identity system

NemID, Denmark’s former national digital identity solution, was launched in July 2010 as a common login and authentication service for internet banking, public-sector services and selected private companies. It was managed by DanID and processed by Nets. NemID relied on two-factor authentication using a username/password combined with one-time codes printed on a physical key card.

Between 2021 and 2023, NemID was fully phased out and replaced by MitID, which is now the sole national eID solution in Denmark.

MitID provides secure authentication and digital signing across:

MitID is available to Danish residents with a CPR number and supports modern authentication methods, including:

Unlike NemID’s static key-card model, MitID is designed for continuous, high-frequency digital use, including mobile-first banking, e-commerce checkout flows, Open Banking authentication and strong customer authentication (SCA) under PSD2/PSD3.

Nordea e-Invoicing Messenger service – In November 2017, Nordea and NETS launched on an e-invoicing service which enables consumers to post invoices and pay their bills via Facebook Messenger. The service, which requires a Bank-ID and mobile security PIN, is fully automated and the payment is initiated via an online dialogue with a chatbot in Facebook Messenger.

Finance Denmark

At the end of 2016, the Association of Danish Mortgage Banks, the Danish Mortgage Banks’ Federation and the Danish Bankers Association (Finansraadet) agreed that banks and mortgage institutions’ interests would be best represented by one joint organisation.

Therefore, the three associations agreed to merge under the name Finance Denmark, with the Association of Danish Mortgage Banks renamed the department of mortgage credit and property financing under Finance Denmark. Finance Denmark was formally established on 22 December 2016.

The Danish Mortgage Banks’ Federation was therefore dissolved on 31 December 2016.

BOKIS

The Danish Regional Bankers’ Association (RBF) has four members with country-wide representation: Jyske Bank, Sydbank, Spar Nord and Arbejdernes Landsbank. The Danish Association of Local Banks, Savings Banks, and Cooperative Banks (LOPI) has almost 70 members among local banks, savings banks and cooperative banks.

In 2025, the BOKIS partnership includes 38 banks that form the small to mid-sized segment of the Association of Local Banks, Savings Banks, and Cooperative Banks in Denmark, together with three Danish regional institutions: AL Sydbank, Spar Nord Bank, and Nykredit Bank. In 2018, Danish Regional Bankers’ Association (RBF) changed its name to National Banks in Denmark (LDB). Together, these banks represent about 45% of the Danish card payment market.

In March 2014, RBF and LOPI implemented BOKIS, which officially entered into an agreement with processor NETS concerning several services relating to payment cards. In 2019, the agreement was extended for another five years. This means that BOKIS member banks will continue to issue and process the Danish domestic card, Dankort. Additionally, the companies have renewed their processing agreement for international payment cards.

In April 2017, BOKIS added Dankort cards to its mobile HCE NFC payments wallet. The digital BOKIS wallet for Android, launched in March 2017, was followed by a version for the iOS devices both of which access Mastercard and VISA debit and credit cards. Since then, BOKIS has concluded joint agreements with such entities as MobilePay, Apple Pay, Google Pay, Garmin Pay and Fitbit Pay, as well as Mastercard and NETS for the underlying payment infrastructure. In December 2022, BOKIS announced that it would prolong its collaboration with NETS to ensure that BOKIS member banks can offer their consumers reliable and modern payment solutions in a cost-efficient way.

Dankort – the domestic Debit Card Scheme

Dankort is Denmark’s national debit card scheme and remains a core component of the country’s retail payments infrastructure. Established in 1984, Dankort is one of Europe’s earliest domestic debit schemes and continues to play a central role in keeping merchant acceptance costs low.

Dankort has near-universal adult penetration, with the vast majority of Danish consumers holding a Dankort card. Almost all Dankort cards issued today are co-badged with Visa, enabling international acceptance via Visa while domestic transactions within Denmark are routed over the Dankort network.

Merchant acceptance of Dankort is effectively universal in physical retail and widespread online. While absolute merchant counts are no longer routinely published, Dankort acceptance is embedded across the Danish POS infrastructure and remains the default domestic debit option.

Pricing model and economics

A defining feature of Dankort is its subscription-based pricing model:

This model, combined with EU interchange fee caps on international card schemes, has made Denmark one of the lowest-cost card acceptance markets in Europe.

Governance and processing

Dankort is managed and processed by Nets, which continues to operate the scheme under agreements with Danish banks and the retail sector. Bilateral agreements with major banks were renewed in the late 2010s and have since been rolled forward, ensuring the continued issuance and acceptance of Dankort cards.

While earlier innovation efforts included proprietary mobile wallets, HCE and BLE-based acceptance, Dankort’s role has since shifted away from consumer-facing innovation toward functioning as cost-efficient domestic debit infrastructure.

Technology and usage today

Dankort no longer competes head-on in the wallet layer; instead, it anchors domestic debit routing beneath global schemes and wallets.

NETS – the Pan-Nordic Processor 

PBS (Payment Business Services), the former Danish interbank organisation, completed its proposed merger with Nordito, the Norwegian holding company which owned BBS and Teller (see also Norway profile) in January 2010. The new company, headquartered in Copenhagen, is called NETS – Northern European Transaction Services.

The core operations of NETS are processing Dankort in Denmark and BankAxept in Norway, the domestic debit card schemes. NETS has given undertakings to stakeholders in both schemes that the national infrastructures will be maintained and will be run at least as effectively as in their unmerged state. Nonetheless, substantial revenue and cost synergies are expected for the merged NETS.

Danmarks Nationalbank, Danske Bank, DNB Bank (N), and Nordea Bank Danmark had been the major shareholders in NETS; others include regional and savings banks from Denmark and Norway. To achieve this goal NETS has built on its bases in Denmark and Norway and has won business in Sweden, Finland and the Baltic region in particular.

In 2020, NETS processed more than 40 million payment cards for more than 240 banks, and over 740,000 merchants. In addition, NETS managed 500,000 terminals and all Nordic payment modules for online shopping are connected to their card platform. Measured in terms of authorisations and card transactions, the number of transactions in 2020 amounted to around 7.7 billion on the entire NETS platform – the group also manages over 9.1 million digital identities.

NETS was said to have a 30%-35% share of the card processing market in the Nordic region. The national debit card systems in Denmark and Norway, Dankort and BankAxept, accounted for more than half of all payment card transactions processed.

In March 2014, the private equity investors Advent International, ATP and Bain Capital signed an agreement to acquire 100% of the share capital of NETS from the existing shareholders, a group of 186 primarily Danish and Norwegian banks, for $3.1 billion.

In September 2016, NETS applied for an Initial Public Offering (IPO) in a partial share sale valued at $2.36 billion. In September 2017, NETS agreed a $5.3 billion bid from private equity investor Hellman & Friedman (US). Effective 2 February 2018, NETS was delisted from Nasdaq Copenhagen. As at 7 February 2018, indirectly through Evergood 5, H&F Corporate Investors VIII controlled 65.57% of the total share capital and 93.87% of the total voting rights in NETS (including treasury shares), respectively. Under Danish law, the remaining minority shareholders were requested to transfer their shares in NETS to Evergood 5 (94.1%).

In June 2018, NETS and German-based acquirer and merchant service provider Concardis Payment Group agreed their merger structured as a share exchange which saw Concardis Group’s private equity shareholders, Advent International and Bain Capital, contribute their shares in return for NETS shares. Concardis was valued at €700 million in a transaction with Bain and Advent in January 2018. Concardis Payment Group included Italian Mercury Processing Services International.

Also, in June 2018, NETS expanded into Poland through a €73 million acquisition of online payment providers Dotpay/eCard. In August 2019, Mastercard entered into an agreement to purchase the Real-time Payments Platform (RPP) from NETS for $3.2 billion. This follows Mastercard’s decision to enter the P27 consortium in the Nordics (see above).

In January 2020, NETS acquired Finnish software developer Poplatek and payment terminal service provider Poplapay to boost its payment terminal service capabilities. Poplatek and Poplapay have a combined annual revenue of around €5 million. In August 2020, NETS followed that with the October 2020 acquisition of PeP, one of Poland’s five major card processors.

In November 2020, Italian processor Nexi confirmed its intention deal to buy NETS for €7.8 billion, with the signing of a merger deal taking place in June 2021. The completion of the transaction was subject to approval from Finnish regulator FIN-FSA and closed in June 2021. The merger of Nexi and NETS creates Europe’s largest payments firm by volume and number of customers.

In January 2021, NETS acquired e-commerce firm Checkout Finland through its Paytrail subsidiary, its latest move in the accelerating payments consolidation wave. Checkout Finland, part of the OP Financial Group, provides online and physical retail stores with payment services. It also operates a mobile payments channel. The company has around 8,000 customers and €12 million in revenue for 2020.

As of 2024, the enlarged Nexi was present in more than 25 countries, representing 65% of European consumption, and had 2.2 million merchants, and processed 140 million cards. Nexi reported €3.51 billion in revenues, with the Nordics and Baltic markets comprising 17% of revenues in 2024.

Until 2021, Danmarks Nationalbank’s oversight of Dankort and Betalingsservice had involved NETS, as the company had long been the system owner of both these payment solutions. In 2021, Mastercard completed an agreement with NETS which included the acquisition of Betalingsservice, for which Mastercard is the new system owner. After this, Dankort and Betalingsservice are subject to separate oversight, with Danmarks Nationalbank overseeing both NETS and Mastercard.

In December 2022, Denmark-based payment and card company BOKIS  entered a new long-term agreement with Nets, part of the Nexi Group, to issue payment cards across Denmark. The agreement is to run till December 2029, and as part of it, BOKIS member banks are to continue with issuing and processing the Danish domestic card, Dankort, as well as international payment cards though Nets.

Card Issuers – Overview

Danish banks issue credit cards, charge cards, debit cards and prepaid cards in combination with bank accounts. Addressing the specific needs of personal banking and business banking, the card portfolio is composed of consumer cards, business cards and corporate cards.

Dedicated card products are offered for the individual client segments: families, millennials, students, affluent clients, small business clients, corporate clients and even basic account clients. The credit cards offered range from classic cards to gold cards and platinum cards.

According to DNB, most Danish retail banks are issuing cards. All banks issue Dankort debit cards and Mastercard and VISA credit cards. Danske Bank had been the American Express card issuer while SEB Kort is the issuer of Eurocard cards. American Express Payments Europe now issues American Express cards on its own.

Leading issuers are Danske Bank, Nordea Bank Danmark, SEB Kort and Jyske Bank. Other issuers include Sydbank, GE Money Bank, Ikano Bank and many of the smaller local banks. Table 7 illustrates the card brands accepted by the leading issuers in Denmark as of mid-2025.

8 - Leading Card Issuers in Denmark
Domestic IssuersIssued Card BrandsOwned by
Danske BankMastercard, VISA; Dankort/VISADanish interests: 53%, investors: 47%
Nordea DenmarkMastercard; VISA, Dankort/VISANordea Group (SF)
Jyske BankMastercard; VISA Debit, Dankort/VISADanish interests: 69%, investors: 31%
NykreditMastercard; VISA Debit, Dankort/VISANykredit Group (DK)
SydbankMastercard; Debit Mastercard, Dankort/VISADanish interests
other banksMastercard; Dankort/VISA; ---
American ExpressAmExpAmerican Express (US)
SEB Kort DanmarkMastercard, Eurocard, DinersSEB Group (S)
EnterCardMastercardFDB (DK), EnterCard International
Ikano BankVISA; IKEA cardsIKEA Group (S)
Consumer Finance IssuersIssued Card BrandsOwned by
Santander Consumer BankMastercardSantander Group (E)
Resurs BankMastercardResursconcernen (DK)
Ekspres BankVISABNP Paribas PF (F)
Source: PCM research

Outlook – By mid-2025, Danish card issuers face the following notable challenges:

Card Processors and PSPs

In Europe, the payment processing industry is composed of card processors, ATM/POS network hub processors, e-/m-payment service processors (PSPs), and specialised processors (e.g. CSM processors, TSM services).

In Denmark, card issuer processing services range from technical issuer processing, including card printing, to full cardholder processing services. They include all types of cards and card technologies allowing for card use in multi-channels (i.e. at ATMs, POS terminals, on the internet and in-store mobile payments in the future).

Acquirer processing services in the country range from technical acquirer processing, including POS terminal services, to full merchant processing services. Usually, ATM/POS network processing is part of acquirer processing while payments on the internet are routed by specialised e-/m-payment service processors (PSPs) to the card acquirers and independent payment service providers (e.g. Fintechs like PayPal), respectively.

NETS continued to be the largest card processor in Denmark, through NETS Denmark, and in the Nordic region and one of the three largest processors in Europe. NETS absorbed the Danish card processor PBS in 2010. In 2020, NETS processed 40 million payment cards for more than 240 banks, and it administers more than 740,000 merchants. In addition, NETS Group serves 260,000 corporates, and all Nordic payment modules for online shopping are connected to the NETS platform. Measured in terms of authorisations and card transactions, the number of transactions in 2020 amounted to an estimated 7.7 billion on the entire NETS platform, and NETS manages more than 9.1 million digital identities.

A 2020 estimate suggests that NETS had a 35% market share of the card processing market in the Nordic region. The national debit card systems in Denmark and Norway, Dankort and BankAxept, account for more than half of all payment card transactions processed in the Nordic region (see also Norway country profile) and around 30% of the total transactions processed.

Online Payment Service Processors (PSPs) 

Online payment service processors (PSPs) are specialised technical processors for all kind of secure online payments and mobile payments. Some of them also offer virtual PSP platform services (VPSP) for bank acquirers who want to take advantage of a kind of ‘internet network processor’.

Online shops of merchants are directly connected by an API interface or a hosted payment page either to the internet payment gateway of a bank acquirer, or they are connected to multi-acquirers through a PSP.

PSPs usually partner with more than one card acquirer and payment initiation service providers. Core services offered by PSPs may include payment gateways to card acquirers and other online payment service providers, online payment processing, risk management services, and collection services for merchants.

Security technologies applied to ensure secure online card payments include EMV tokenisation and strong 3D-Secure (MCSC, VbV, SafeKey) combined with one-time tokens. For card-less payment services, the security technologies applied include userID/password combined with one-time tokens and online banking access with one-time TAN.

Denmark’s online payments market is characterised by high international competition, strong domestic bank-linked infrastructure, and widespread use of local payment methods alongside international cards.

Historically, Nets was the largest provider of internet payments in Denmark, offering card acquiring, Dankort processing and value-added services for online merchants. Nets continues to play a role in the Danish market, but its relative prominence has declined as merchants increasingly adopt pan-European PSPs with broader geographic coverage and unified checkout solutions.

Today, Denmark’s online PSP landscape includes a mix of Nordic specialists, bank-owned acquirers and global PSPs, including:

Domestic and Nordic PSPs

International PSPs and acquirers

Cross-border acquirers and foreign PSPs are highly active in Denmark, particularly among:

Supported payment methods

Danish PSPs typically support a broad mix of payment instruments, including:

MobilePay has become a de-facto mandatory checkout option for Danish e-commerce and is now more strategically important than many standalone PSP brands.

PayEx is an online payment service provider comprising of a number of companies in Sweden, Norway, Denmark and Finland. PayEx offers payment solutions for internet, mobile and physical commerce as well as administrative services within billing, account management and debt collection. PayEx also offers financial services such as factoring, instalment and loans.

In May 2017, Swedbank (S) acquired PayEx. The acquisition was subject to the customary approvals from regulatory authorities, including the Swedish Financial Supervisory Authority and the Swedish Competition Authority. This transaction completed in August 2017.

Acquiring and Acceptance 

In Europe, most acquirers offer multi-channel card acceptance and value-added merchant services at POS terminals, mobile MPOS terminals and online shops. The leading acquirers usually act on a European level and offer their services cross-border.

Additionally, innovative acquirers also offer the acceptance of card-less payment services based on partner agreements with the issuer of those payment services (e.g. account-based payments, wallets, prepaid products).

Most acquirers either operate their own acquirer systems and ATM/POS/MPOS network service hubs, or they use the processing services of external processors. In order to service online merchants in Europe, they may operate their own PSP processing platforms or they co-operate with one or more specialised online payment service processors (PSPs).

From 2009, European acquirers compete in their home markets, cross-border on a European level, and cross-channel at POS terminals and servicing online merchants. From 2016, innovative acquirers started to offer omni-channel and multi-payment acceptance.

By mid-2025, omni-channel acceptance includes the ability to service all channels (i.e. POS/MPOS terminals, mobile in-store, online shops, in-app), and to accept multiple payment means in all of these channels. Multi-payment services demanded by merchants include cards, IBAN-based payments (SCT, SDD), online wallets, digital wallets, prepaid products, and immediate payments.

Outlook – By mid-2025, Danish acquirers face the following notable challenges:

Nordic processor NETS, through its subsidiaries, Teller in Norway, Teller in Denmark, NETS Oy in Finland, and as well as branches in Sweden, is also focused on card acquiring services. However, the Danish banks were acquirers of Dankort cards and of eDankort payments on the internet until end-2004. From 2005, Dankort acquiring was re-transferred to PBS (now: NETS) and is now part of NETS’ acquirer unit, Teller.

SEB Kort is the EuroCard card acquirer. Teller and Danske Bank are the V PAY acquirers. Cross-border acquirers in Denmark include Elavon Merchant Services, Bambora (S) and Valitor (ISL). In February 2018, Danish acquirer Clearhaus made Apple Pay payments on cards available for its Nordic merchants. In January 2019, Diners Club International, a part of the Discover Global Network signed an agreement with NETS, a leading to help expand Discover Global Network acceptance in Norway, Sweden, Denmark and Finland.

In June 2021, NETS and JCB announced the latest expansion of their partnership to bolster JCB contactless acceptance in the Nordic region. JCB cardmembers can now use JCB Contactless on 244,000 merchant POS systems across Denmark, Sweden, Norway, and Finland. This growing partnership with NETS marks a significant increase in JCB acceptance in the region, built upon the previous rollout to 18,000 NETS merchants in Finland in January 2020 and introduction of mobile payments in Denmark in 2016.

Table 9 illustrates the card brands accepted by the leading domestic acquirers as of mid-2025.

9 - Leading Acquirers in Denmark
Domestic AcquirersAcceptance Brands offered Owned by
TellerMastercard, VISA, AmExp, JCB, UnionPay; Dankort, BankAxept
Debit Mastercard, Electron, VISA Debit, V PAY 		NETS Group (DK)
Danske BankV PAY, DankortDanish interests: 53%, investors: 47%
SEB Kort DanmarkDiners, Discover, EurocardSEB Group (S)
other banksDankortvarious
Foreign AcquirersAcceptance Brands offered Owned by
Bambora (S)Mastercard, VISA; Electron, V PAY2017: Ingenico Group (F)
Elavon Merchant Services (IRL)Mastercard, VISA, Diners, JCB;
VISA Debit, Electron, V PAY		U.S. Bankcorp (US)
Valitor (ISL)Mastercard, VISA, UnionPay;
Debit Mastercard, Electron, VISA Debit		Arion Banki: 98.78%, VISA Iceland (1%)
Source: PCM research

Teller – Before being absorbed into NETS in 2017, Teller was the sole acquirer in Denmark for Mastercard, VISA, Electron, Diners Club, JCB (1997), American Express (2007), and UnionPay (2008). Also, it was a V PAY acquirer. In 2017, Teller claimed to service 500,000 clients operating in more than 20 European countries.

Its number of acquired payments on international credit and debit cards rose by 20%, from 304 million transactions in 2010 to 366 million transactions in 2011. Teller revenues increased in 2012 by 9% on 2011 following a 14% growth on 2010.

As Nordic acquirer certified for VISA payWave and Mastercard PayPass, Teller took part in contactless projects in the Norwegian market in 2011. In January 2012, Teller became the acquirer of Mobilpenge, a new mobile payment initiative of the Danish banks.

Following the acquisition of Luottokunta in Finland (now: NETS Oy) and the acquiring business of Nordea in 2015, NETS, through Teller and NETS Oy, became one of the Top-10 leading acquirers in Europe. Excluding payments on Dankort cards and BankAxept cards, in 2020, NETS Group accepted 2.87 billion card transactions with the total value $142.2 billion (see App 2).

Bambora – In May 2014, Swedish bank SEB agreed to sell its Euroline card acquiring business to Nordic Capital (see Sweden country profile). In May 2015, Euroline was rebranded as Bambora. It grew through acquisitions and a €58 million investment in new products.

Bambora reported 110,000 retail customers in 70 different markets and managed transactions worth more than €55 billion per year. It posted annual revenue of €202 million in 2016. Key acquisitions included Beanstreams Internet Commerce, Asian IP Payments, DevCode Payments and Paybyway.

In July 2017, Ingenico Group (F) bought Bambora for $1.74 billion from Nordic Capital, a quintuple of its investment in Bambora. In 2020, Bambora served over 126,000 merchants in 65 countries, and became part of the Worldline group after Ingenico was acquired by Worldline.

Payment Institutions

In 2024, there were 22 payment institutions resident in Denmark and registered by the DFSA.

In addition, in 2024, over 304 payment institutions authorised in another EEA member state had confirmed cross-border activities in Denmark under the EU passport system. Most of the institutions come from the UK and report payment services taking the form of remittance businesses. Some institutions have a physical presence in Denmark, through a branch in two cases and via agents in seven cases.

Saxo Payments Banking Circle was a subsidiary of the Saxo Bank Group. It was granted authorisation as a payment institution according to the Danish Payment Services and Electronic Money Act, and was under the supervision of Finanstilsynet, the Danish Financial Supervisory Authority (DFSA).

Founded in 2013, Banking Circle is a provider of mission-critical infrastructure for online cross-border payments. Saxo Payments Banking Circle’s banking platform enables cross-border payments with reduced complexity, time and cost. For banks, Saxo Payments Banking Circle offers an add-on to the correspondent banking model. For Fintechs, it offers an alternative for managing multiple banking relationships in different regions.

In 2024, Banking Circle processed an annual payments volume of more than €710 billion (over 10% of Europe’s B2C E-commerce flows). In July 2018, private equity investor EQT acquired Saxo Payments Banking Circle from Saxo Bank and other minority owners.  This deal completed in September 2018. As of 2019 it was no longer supervised by the DFSA as it moved its headquarter operations to Luxembourg.

ATM Terminal Infrastructure

In Denmark, ATMs are owned and managed in-house by the banks. The EMV migration of ATM terminals was completed at the end of 2008.

Danish ATMs are open for debit cards (Dankort, Debit Mastercard, Maestro, Cirrus, Electron, VISA Debit, Plus, and V PAY) and credit cards (Mastercard, VISA, American Express, Diners, Discover, and JCB). As of 2019, UnionPay reported that the Danish ATM network was partially open for Chinese UnionPay cards.

Up to end-2015, the DNB reported figures for domestic cash withdrawals on Dankort cards at Danish ATMs between the Danish banks, excluding all so-called ‘on-us’ withdrawals at ATMs of the cardholder’s bank. The DNB changed its statistical reporting and, from 2016, it reports all ATM cash withdrawals on cards.

In 2024, there were 1,702 ATMs (-0.93%) of which 784 were outdoor ATMs not located at bank branches. There were 32.31 million cash withdrawals (-8.93%) with a total value of DKK 55.82 billion (-7.58%) showing continued decline since 2008. There were 1,582.0 cash withdrawals per ATM per month, and the ATV per ATM cash withdrawal amounted to DKK 1,727.49, equivalent to €231.60.

10 - ATMs and Cash Withdrawals in Denmark
202020212022202320242025FGR 23/24CAGR 5Y
ATM Terminals2,0742,0121,9391,7181,7021,686-0.93%-4.81%
Number of 'off-us' TXs per ATM per month1,479.31,396.51,589.11,725.21,582.01,451.0-8.30%-4.16%
Number of ATM cash withdrawals (m)36.8233.7236.9835.5732.3129.36-9.15%-8.77%
- on domestic cards (m)35.8232.7735.6234.3731.3028.50-8.93%-8.64%
- on foreign cards (m)1.000.951.351.201.010.86-15.58%-12.46%
Value of ATM cash withdrawals (DKKbn)60.3860.7765.4660.4055.8251.59-7.58%-6.43%
- on domestic cards (DKK bn)58.9459.3863.6158.8254.4450.39-7.44%-6.31%
- on foreign cards (DKK bn)1.441.391.851.581.381.20-12.69%-10.64%
ATV per cash withdrawal (off-us) (DKK)1,639.981,802.421,770.331,698.141,727.491,757.191.73%2.57%
# ATM Terminals per 1m capita - Denmark355.7343.7326.8288.8284.8282.1-1.41%-5.33%
# ATM Terminals per 1m capita - EU27 total685.3678.8641.3628.4628.4590.10.00%-6.11%
Note: up to 2015, figures include only ATM withdrawals on cards between Danish banks, i.e. domestic 'off-us' transactions.
Note: from 2016, figures include all ATM cash withdrawals and 837 outdoor ATMs not located in bank branches.
Source: ECB, DNB.

Cash-advance Services in Denmark – Competition for ATMs 

In an Open Banking ecosystem, the dominant role of ATMs for cash withdrawal services may decline as more cash-advance and cash handling services are offered at retail outlets in Europe.

Cash in-Store – In parallel to ATM cash withdrawals on cards, the Danish banks support cash-advance services on cards at POS terminals in retail outlets (see below).

POS Terminal Infrastructure 

The Danish POS network is operated by NETS. Danish merchants buy their own terminals from vendors in Denmark. To stimulate chip roll-out, NETS entered the POS terminal market in 2007 and now sells and leases terminals. The EMV migration of Danish POS terminals is complete, since end-2009. In 2018, all POS terminals were contactless enabled.

Accepted card brands at Danish POS terminals are debit cards (Dankort, Debit Mastercard, Maestro, Electron, VISA Debit, and V PAY), and credit cards (Mastercard, VISA, American Express, Diners, Diners and JCB). Also, more than 325,000 merchants accept Chinese UnionPay cards.

According to DNB, in 2024, there were 146,400 POS terminals (-7.28% from 2023) of which 28,200 were handheld MPOS terminals. There were 1.90 billion POS payments (+2.26%) with a total value of DKK 450.06 billion (+3.64% vs 2023). There were 1,083.4 payments per POS terminal per month, and the ATV per POS payment accounted for DKK 236.46 (€31.70).

At end-2020 NETS said that 99% of all Dankort payments were carried out using a contactless enabled POS terminal. In November 2017, NETS launched the J/Speedy contactless terminals function in Denmark. Danish merchants can accept payments from JCB card members using their cards and smartphones. In 2024, approximately 95 % of all card payments in Denmark were made contactlessly up from 94 % in 2023, according to Nexi.

11 - POS Terminals in Denmark
202020212022202320242025FGR 23/24GR 5YCAGR 5Y
POS terminals148,800151,400159,500157,900146,400135,738-7.28%-1.48%-0.30%
Ø Number of TXs per POS per month 940.5 942.0 986.6 982.3 1,083.4 1,196.210.29%8.31%1.61%
Number of POS payments (m)1,679.371,711.441,888.441,861.311,903.341,948.442.26%6.70%1.31%
- on domestic cards (m)1,641.411,663.261,789.691,760.561,786.101,812.001.45%5.14%1.01%
- on foreign cards (m)37.9648.1898.75100.75117.25136.4416.37%37.96%6.65%
Value of POS payments (DKK bn)390.69406.00449.92434.26450.06467.313.64%10.12%1.95%
- on domestic cards (DKK bn)379.99391.41422.29410.07420.54431.282.55%9.95%1.92%
- on foreign cards (DKK bn)10.7014.5927.6324.1929.5236.0322.05%12.61%2.40%
ATV per POS payment (DKK)232.64237.23238.25233.31236.46239.841.35%3.20%0.63%
# POS Terminals per 1m capita - Denmark25,523.225,862.726,885.126,546.824,494.722,710.7-7.73%-4.11%-0.84%
# POS Terminals per 1m capita - EU27 total31,503.734,817.042,741.747,601.147,601.152,170.60.00%58.14%9.60%
Source: ECB, DNB.

MPOS Terminals – Small and mobile merchants have started to use their smartphone and tablet PCs as a kind of mini-POS+ECR device with added chip reader dongle. In late 2012, Square clones like iZettle, SumUp, Miura and others launched their MPOS services in Europe. Swedish iZettle is expected to support the Nordic banks. Also, Danish merchants can initiate MOTO-like card payments on their smartphones and tablets by downloading a payment app.

From June 2013, NETS and Teller offer MPOS terminals for small business merchants in the Nordic region followed by Dutch company Adyen with its Shuttle MPOS terminal in August 2013. In May 2014, Nordea Group selected iZettle to be its provider of mobile point of sale MPOS solutions in Sweden, Norway, Denmark and Finland. NETS selected MPOS terminals from Spire Payments.

SmartPOS Terminals – In 2018, POS terminal vendors launched innovative new types of POS terminals. Named SmartPOS terminals, they combine the electronic cash register functionality (ECR) used by merchants in outlets with a contactless POS payment terminal and merchant services in the cloud. For the very first time, the so far separated ECR devices and POS terminals are integrated in just one checkout solution device. From late 2018, SmartPOS terminal vendors like Castles, Clover, Ingenico, Jusp, Handpoint, PAX, Poynt, Spire Payments, Verifone, Worldline, and others have launched their SmartPOS devices and services in Europe. It is believed that Danish SME merchants will embrace SmartPOS terminals.

iZettle – From June 2017, iZettle enables small business owners in Europe to register local mobile payments and send invoices through its POS app. This gives iZettle’s users a complete overview of their sales history, ensures compliance with local tax regulations and enables them to sell more. The service is free of charge and will open up for mobile payments from British Pay-By-Bank app, Swedish Swish, Norwegian Vipps and MobilePay in Denmark and Finland. The invoicing service will enable small business owners to send invoices with just a few clicks.

In April 2018, iZettle launched an e-commerce marketplace for small business owners to sell their wares online. Priced at £29 per month, iZettle E-commerce lets small business owners set up and customise an online shop or start selling across multiple channels online, including social media, blogs and existing websites. The online mall processes all major credit cards and online payments, including PayPal. Traders who take up the offer get a full overview of in-store and online transactions and real-time inventory stocktaking in one place alongside actionable sales data. The platform is available in the UK, Sweden, Denmark, Norway, Finland, Germany, France and the Netherlands.

In September 2018, PayPal completed its acquisition of iZettle for approximately $2.2 billion. iZettle continues to operate under its new name of Zettle.

SumUp – In October 2017, SumUp launched its MPOS terminal service in Denmark. Small business owners can take card payments with their smartphone and the SumUp Air card reader without any monthly fees or contractual obligations.

In May 2021, SumUp announced the release of the SumUp Terminal Payment SDKs (software development kit) for iOS and Android as well as a number of APIs for developers, allowing third parties to connect to the company’s end-to-end payment platform and proprietary card terminals.

In June 2022, Vibrant, a Danish mPOS start-up, secured €4 million to transform Android devices into POS devices. The start-up has raised €5.5 million to date. The start-up will use the funding to grow its customer base and prioritise extensions into new markets that harbour millions of untapped SMEs.

Remote Payments on the Internet – Cards & More

In 2024, Denmark led the Nordic countries in terms of e-commerce turnover with €25.70 billion spent online, giving it a 3.14% market share of European e-commerce turnover. From 2015, due to EU VAT regulation, Danish merchants will have to collect the applicable VAT rate for cross-border sales based on the consumers’ residence.

Internet use – In 2024, 100% of Danish people used the internet, and 91% of internet users purchased in online shops in the last 12 months.

As more Danes embrace digitalisation, a greater proportion of consumption and payments also move online. In 2021, e-commerce accounted for about one-third of the total card turnover in Denmark. This proportion has been growing since 2016. Denmark’s e-commerce market is expected to experience a CAGR of 9.2% during the period 2022-2027, driven by advanced infrastructure, high internet penetration, and a growing number of card-based payment systems.

Denmark is ranked fourth of the top five countries to do business with by the World Bank, and cross-border transactions comprise almost a quarter of total e-commerce.

Online buyers purchase using their PCs, notebooks, tablets, or smartphones. Thus, remote payments are initiated from various types of internet capable devices. In 2022, smartphone penetration stood at 90% in Denmark, compared to 77% in 2019. According to PostNord, 33% of Danish consumers use their mobile phone to make e-commerce purchases on a monthly basis. By 2022, about 10% of online purchases abroad was made from Denmark. PostNord reported that in 2024, 82% of Danish customers shopped from abroad and most Danes prefer to pay with credit cards or MobilePay.

The Danish B2C e-commerce value of goods and services accounted for €25.70 billion in 2024, up by 3.21% from 2023. The average B2C e-commerce expenditure per capita amounted to €4,300.0 while it was €4,725.2 per online buyer.

12 - Internet Use in Denmark
202020212022202320242025FGR 23/24GR 5YCAGR 5Y
Households with internet access95%96%95%96%97%97.4%0.86%2.02%0.40%
Last internet use (individuals, 12 months)99%99%98%99%100%100.0%1.01%3.09%0.61%
Internet users who bought online90%92%90%90%91%93.0%1.22%5.08%1.00%
Last online purchase (individuals, 12 month)89%91%88%89%91%93.0%2.25%8.33%1.61%
Last online purchase (individuals, 3 month)79%82%78%80%80%81.8%0.00%7.81%1.52%
Mobile subscribers per 100 inhabitants124.5%125.8%126.5%126.0%127.0%127.4%0.79%1.62%0.32%
B2C online e-commerce revenue (€bn)20.7024.3024.2024.9025.7026.803.21%31.12%5.57%
Annual B2C eCommerce growth rate/year5.6%17.4%-0.4%2.9%3.2%4.3%−−−
Ø B2C e-Commerce amount per capita €3,550.6€4,151.0€4,079.1€4,186.3€4,300.0€4,484.02.72%27.62%5.00%
Ø B2C e-Commerce amount per online buyer€3,949.5€4,515.9€4,542.7€4,656.7€4,725.2€4,821.51.47%21.44%3.96%
Sources: Eurostat, Ecommerce Europe.

Cards on the Internet (CNP) – All cards with international brands are accepted in Danish online shops as long as the merchant has signed an acceptance contract accordingly. Also, Danish banks issue prepaid cards and virtual cards for internet use only. 3D-Secure technology is applied for most payments with cards in online shops. Further, web-based mail order services for merchant-initiated payments and Dynamic Currency Conversion (DCC) are offered.

According to Danish retail statistics, as of 2021, Dankort and VISA/Dankort were the most popular cards used for two-thirds of e-commerce purchases of all purchases, followed by international cards.  However, recent data indicates a shift in consumer payment preferences. In 2024, digital payment solutions continued to dominate in Denmark, with 91% payments in physical stores being made digitally. This trend underscores Denmark’s position as one of the most digitalised countries in terms of payment methods.

The e-Payment Mix in Denmark – In 2024, 35% of Danish consumers preferred credit cards over any other online payment method. Vipps/MobilePay comprised 33%, debit cards comprised 14%, Online Bank Payment comprised 6%, Mobile Payment comprised 6%, and BNPL comprised 3%.

According to Danmarks Nationalbank’s latest survey, 46% of online payments in 2021 were mobile payments, most of which were made using MobilePay, in-app mobile purchases. In 2021, approximately 48 million in-app payments were made, an increase of 15 million payments since 2019. As a result, in-app payments accounted for about 42% of total online mobile payments in 2021.

The use of smartphones for online purchasing and payment is rising quickly and was used in more than 50% of purchases by the end of 2022.

All Danish internet stores accept Dankort cards as means of payment. Table 14 shows the use of Dankort cards on the internet. eDankort credit transfers were phased-out at end-2013. In 2024, there were on average 57.6 online payments per Dankort per year and 43.2 Dankort online payments per capita.

13 - Dankort Payments on the Internet
(000s)20202021202220232024GR 23/24CAGR 5Y
Cards with Dankort brand 4,8404,8164,7924,6864,481-4.37%-1.62%
Ø online payments per Dankort per year47.839.442.256.757.61.65%6.76%
Number of online payments with Dankort cards231,402189,533202,008265,598258,157-2.80%5.03%
Ø Dankort online payments per capita39.732.434.144.743.2-3.27%4.46%
Note: eDankort payments on the internet are processed as Dankort card payments. eDankort credit transfers were phased-out by end-2013.
Source: DNB.

Remote Payments on the Mobile Internet – Since 2009, online buyers with a high affinity for smartphones have started to use their mobile phones for shopping on the mobile internet. Mobile online shops can be accessed by mobile internet, by mobile app, or by scanning a 2D QR-code displayed in a newspaper or at a bus station. Thus, remote mobile phone payments are executed either by using the e-payment page of the mobile online shop or by using payment apps of a PSP or an acquirer.

Also, merchants can download a payment app from their acquirer in order to initiate MOTO payments with cards and/or online direct debits. Leading Danish merchants are testing their own mobile apps including loyalty functions (e.g. e-vouchers, discounts, outlet finder, QR-code scanning) and direct debit payment functions.

Mobile Payments – Overview

In 2024, 127.0% of Danes subscribed to a mobile phone. Many Danes own more than one mobile phone and 90% own a smartphone (from 59% in 2013). 98% of mobile phone users have accessed the internet. Also, tablet penetration has jumped significantly, with more than 3.7 million tablet users in 2022. According to VISA, 90% of Danish internet users have made mobile payments using mobile devices at least once.

Since 2008, the next generation of mobile services and payments has started, pushed by online buyers’ high affinity to smartphones and tablets and also by new disruptive technologies (1D-barcodes, QR-code, Bluetooth BLE and Near Field Communication NFC).

Mobile initiatives in Denmark are field testing and using new technologies either as initiating form factors to bridge to online shops on the internet (1D-barcodes, QR-code, NFC) or to enable contactless access to the retail POS outlet (1D-barcodes, QR-code, BLE, Bluetooth Low Energy, NFC Stickers, Mobile NFC Phones) e.g.:

According to the Danish central bank, as of 2021, 94% of the population has at least one mobile payment solution on their mobile phone, and 42% of the population has access to at least two mobile payment solutions. The prevalence is due mainly to MobilePay: 92% of the population has access to MobilePay.

Since Danmarks Nationalbank’s survey of the payment behaviour of Danish households in 2019, the popularity and prevalence of mobile payment solutions have grown considerably, driven by the launch of new solutions such as Apple Pay and Google Pay in recent years. In 2021, 18% of consumers had Apple Pay installed on their phones, while 13% and 9% of consumers had access to the Dankort app and Google Pay, respectively.

According to Danmarks Nationalbank’s survey, Apple Pay was the most popular mobile payment solution in Denmark in physical trade in 2021: 42% of all mobile payments were made using Apple Pay, while MobilePay, the Dankort app, and Google Pay accounted for 22%, 19% and 6%, respectively, of total mobile payments.

The survey shows that, in 2021, about 186 million transactions were made using Apple Pay in physical trade, equivalent to an increase of 147 million transactions since 2019. This rise should be seen in the context that just 18% of the population has access to the solution. This survey is published every two years, and the next edition should be published in 2024.

The m-Payment Mix in Denmark – There are no official m-payment mix statistics, but PSP information indicates that the domestic m-payment mix is similar to the e-payment mix (see Remote Payments on the Internet section).

Mobile Payment Initiatives

In 2025, the various European mobile payment initiatives can be grouped into

MobilePay – In 2013, Danske Bank launched MobilePay in Denmark (in May) and in Finland (in December). Ten weeks after public launch the MobilePay solution was downloaded almost 300,000 times of which 48% were non-Danske Bank customers. Danske Bank already offers mobile banking services for its customers, but the new MobilePay solution is accessible for all non-Danske Bank customers. The MobilePay app allows the sending and receiving of money via iPhone or Android mobile phones. The user transfers the money by selecting the mobile number of the person who is to receive the money. There is no need to exchange account or card numbers or use NemID (Danish sign-on procedure).

In October 2016, Nordea Bank Denmark left the Swipp collaboration and opted for the further development of MobilePay. In October 2017, Danske terminated MobilePay in Norway in favour of supporting the Norwegian Vipps instead.

In 2017, MobilePay, became a separate entity, MobilePay Denmark A/S. This follows the launch of the new partnership model in 2016, with almost all Danish banks joining the MobilePay partnership. MobilePay remains the most popular mobile payment service in Denmark and Finland. In 2018, MobilePay launched a bill-sharing app within its app, called Box. This app enables team subscriptions, the sharing of bills between friends, and other peer-to-peer (P2P) applications.

The number of users who shop online with MobilePay grew from 2.7 million to over 3.4 million in 2021. Danes increasingly also use MobilePay for regular payments and bills. Every fourth adult Dane now uses MobilePay for regular payments. As of 2021, Danish consumers transferred around 424 million times with MobilePay, equivalent to DKK 160 billion, a growth of 29% since 2020. By 2024, MobilePay had over 4.6 million users and more than 200,000 stores and webshops in Denmark.

Mobile HCE NFC Payments – In April 2016, NETS announced the launch of its mobile HCE NFC payment service platform in Denmark using tokenisation security and the J/Speedy contactless technology from Japanese card scheme JCB. The partnership enabled Danish consumers to load their Dankort debit card onto NFC capable smartphones and use it to make contactless in-store payments.

HCE NFC Payments Wallet from Bokis – In June 2016, Danish local and regional banks banded together to launch a national mobile HCE NFC wallet processed by NETS. The Bokis partnership included 62 banks that formed the small to mid-sized segment of the Association of Local Banks, Savings Banks and Cooperative Banks in Denmark, together with five Danish regional institutions: Jyske Bank, Sydbank, Spar Nord Bank, Arbejdernes Landsbank and Nykredit Bank. The Bokis mobile wallet was made available to customers of Bokis banks.

In April 2017, Bokis added Dankort cards to its HCE NFC wallet, Bokis. The Bokis wallet for Android launched in March 2017 was followed by a version for iOS devices which can access Mastercard and VISA cards.

In June 2017, NETS and Bokis updated the Mobile Dankort app for iPhone users. Users can now make contactless in-store payments from their lock-screen when they shop in the stores of Dansk Supermarked Group, and validate purchases over DKK 200 by using Touch ID. As of 2021, the Dankort app was used for 19% of mobile payments in Denmark.

Central Bank Digital Currencies, Cryptocurrency Products 

In 2024, the Danish payment ecosystem was composed of traditional cash payments, digital cryptocurrency products of independent payment service providers and research and development of central bank digital currencies, CBDC. The regulation of cryptocurrencies is becoming increasingly relevant as independent cryptocurrency products have grown more prevalent, posing challenges for regulators and national central banks.

In July 2023, the European Union introduced the Markets in Crypto-Assets (MiCA) regulation, which aims to standardize cryptocurrency regulation across member states, including Luxembourg. This regulation addresses various aspects of crypto assets, such as market integrity, consumer protection, and financial stability, while also promoting innovation in the sector. Under MiCA, crypto-asset service providers will have specific obligations to protect users’ wallets and mitigate investment risks.

Central Bank Digital Currencies (CBDC) – The Digital Cash Challenge 

Central bank digital currency (CBDC), also called digital fiat currency or digital base money, is a digital currency issued by a national central bank (NCB), rather than by a commercial bank. It is also a liability of the NCB and denominated in the sovereign currency, as is the case with physical banknotes and coins.

All CBDCs are under the authority of the respective national central bank, and they are part of the domestic cash payment ecosystem. Rather than a new currency, CBDC is a form of central bank electronic money that could be used by households and businesses to make payments. In addition, most CBDC implementations will likely not use or need any sort of distributed ledger such as a blockchain.

Unlike “retail CBDC,” which is generally designed as a central bank liability universally accessible to individuals and businesses within a jurisdiction’s financial system, “wholesale CBDC” refers to a digitized central bank liability designed for sizable (generally interbank) transactions, and for which access is limited to certain financial institutions.

National Central Banks (NCBs) have been providing trusted money to the public for hundreds of years as part of their public policy objectives. Trusted money is a public good. It offers a common unit of account, store of value and medium of exchange for the sale of goods and services and settlement of financial transactions. Providing cash for public use is an important tool for central banks. Yet the world is changing.

Even before COVID-19, cash use for payments was declining fast and convenient digital payments have grown enormously in volume and diversity. To evolve and pursue their public policy objectives in a digital world, central banks are actively researching the pros and cons of offering a digital currency to the public, a “general purpose” CBDC.

Central banks’ interest in CBDC has increased as a potential means of delivering their public policy objectives. Profound, ongoing changes across finance, technology and society, as well as the recent COVID-19 crisis, provided additional impetus for the research of, and experimentation related to, CBDCs.

CBDC is a national digital currency issued by the central bank that is expected to replace or coexist with fiat money and hold the same value. Mobile money, on the other hand, utilises existing commercial banking-based accounting to manage customer wallet balances based on an exchange with cash or lines of credit and loans.

CBDC is a direct liability on the central bank as it is the main issuer of the currency, whereas digital money is the liability of commercial banks and other authorised financial institutions using funds on account. Although some implementation approaches propose that CBDC can be implemented in either an indirect or hybrid form, its liability remains on the respective national central bank.

Background on CBDC Evolution

In October 2020, the Bank of Canada, the Bank of England, the Bank of Japan, the European Central Bank, the Federal Reserve, Sveriges Riksbank, the Swiss National Bank and the Bank for International Settlements (BIS) published a report, Central bank digital currencies: foundational principles and core features, identifying the foundational principles necessary for any publicly available CBDC to help central banks meet their public policy objectives.

The report focused on a publicly available “general purpose” CBDC (a digital payment instrument, denominated in the national unit of account, that is a direct liability of the central bank).

A “wholesale” CBDC, restricted to financial institutions, is also an active area of exploration, notes the report, for central banks but one that carries different opportunities, challenges, and risks. The report explored the use cases for, and challenges and opportunities arising from, the possible issuance of a general purpose CBDC.

In September 2021, the same seven central banks and the BIS followed up with the publication of a new set of reports exploring the potential of retail CBDCs, including policy options and practical implementation issues. While none of the central banks has yet decided to proceed with a retail CBDC, they recognise such an instrument would have wide-ranging implications. Delivering on the future needs of consumers would require systems that encourage innovation, choice and competition among a diverse mix of intermediaries.

BIS reported that a 2021 survey of central banks found that “86% are actively researching the potential for CBDCs, 60% were experimenting with the technology and 14% were deploying pilot projects.

The People’s Bank of China (PBoC) is piloting a ‘digital yuan’, known as e-CNY, in various cities, often in association with major sporting events, such as the Winter Olympics.

The ECB published a paper on the potential of a “digital euro” in October 2020, exploring the “benefits and risks” of such an initiative. It completed a public consultation in January 2021 and a series of focus groups in December 2021. Its investigation stage is expected to continue until October 2023, after which the ECB “will decide whether to start developing a digital euro.”

The US Federal Reserve reported in February 2022 that while it has made no decisions about “whether to pursue or implement” a CBDC, it was “exploring the potential benefits and risks of CBDCs from a variety of angles and was inviting public feedback on discussion papers.

The Bank of Japan said in October 2020 that it had no plans for a CBDC and was committed to maintain the cash system as long as there was public demand for it. It nevertheless intended to explore technical feasibility through a proof of concept, consider institutional arrangements and coordinate approaches with domestic and international stakeholders. In 2023, the Bank of Japan (BOJ) has announced that it will begin a pilot for its digital yen with commercial financial institutions. In February 2023, Bank of Japan has embarked on a CBDC trial.

In June 2023, the BIS and BoE said they completed a CBDC pilot project involving CBDCs jointly run by the Bank of England (BoE) and the Bank of International Settlements (BIS). Project Rosalind was designed to explore how a “universal and extensible API layer” could connect central bank and private sector infrastructures and enable retail CBDC payments. The project also sought to develop a number of retail-CBDC use cases.

According to the BIS and BoE, the project has successfully demonstrated that “a well-designed API layer could work with different private sector applications and central bank ledger designs and that a set of simple and standardised API functionalities could support a diverse range of use cases”.

In all, the project led to the development of 33 API functionalities and examined 30 retail CBDC cases including peer-to-peer transfers, retail payments for goods and services and small-value business transactions.

While CBDCs are still in experimental phases across major economies, 2024 has seen increased momentum towards real-world implementation, with several countries, notably China and the ECB, moving closer to full-scale rollouts. Public-private collaboration, technological innovation, and privacy concerns remain central to future CBDC development. Central banks worldwide continue to balance innovation with maintaining public trust and financial stability in this rapidly evolving space.

Global Status of CBDCs 

Most National Central Banks (NCBs) are involved in different stages of a CBDC project. Especially, the NCBs have different views on which kind of CBDC they would intend to launch as a digital currency:

As of 2023, the global CBDC status reveals that four central banks – Nigeria (e-Naira), Eastern Caribbean (D-Cash), Jamaica (JAM-DEX), and the Bahamas (Sand Dollar) – have introduced a domestic CBDC scheme.

Six countries have launched a CBDC pilot: France, Canada, China, India, Saudi Arabia, and Ghana.

The NCBs of most other countries are involved in either a CBDC proof-of-concept phase – including Norway, Hungary, and Sweden – or they are still in a CBDC research stage.

So far, Ecuador is the only country that has cancelled its CBDC ambitions, Dinero electronico.

CBDC, the European Union and the Digital Euro

In July 2021, the Estonian Central Bank released a report about its experiment with the ECB and the central banks of Spain, Germany, Italy, Greece, Ireland, Latvia, and the Netherlands to assess the functionality of the digital euro. The project was able to conduct 300,000 transactions per second, with an average rate of less than two seconds per transaction.

In June 2023, the European Commission (EC) has published its legislative proposal establishing the legal framework for a possible digital euro, stressing that the CBDC would be a compliment to, not replacement for, cash.

A digital euro would be available alongside existing national and international private means of payment, such as cards or applications. It would work like a digital wallet, with people and businesses able to pay with it anytime and anywhere in the euro area.

The digital euro would be available for payments both online and offline. While online transactions would offer the same level of data privacy as existing digital means of payments, offline payments would essentially be like paying with cash – with nobody able to see what people are paying for.

The digital euro would be distributed by banks and other payment service providers, with basic services provided to people free of charge. Merchants would be required to accept the digital currency unless they are cash-only firms.

The EC’s proposal still needs to be adopted by the European Parliament and the European Council before the European Central Bank decides whether to roll out a digital euro. Notably, the European Central Bank (ECB) is involved in the preparation phase, which will run until 2025. During this time, technical experimentation and legal discussions are ongoing before any formal rollout decisions can be made​.

As of 2025, the digital euro remains in development but has advanced beyond its early investigation stage. The European Central Bank (ECB) concluded its two-year investigation phase in October 2023 and entered a two-year preparation phase that runs until October 2025. During this stage, the ECB is refining the design, engaging market participants, testing prototypes, and drafting a comprehensive rulebook.

In 2024, the ECB published two progress reports (in June and December) and a third on in July 2025, detailing technical work, design choices (e.g. offline use, calibration, holding limits) and collaboration with stakeholders. The most recent report included further refinement of the rulebook, more user research, and expanded experimentation. The ECB launched an innovation platform that invited private and public sector actors (banking, fintech, merchants) to test ideas, use cases, conditional payments, and prototype features. Around 70 market participants are reported to have been engaged.

On the legal side, the European Commission’s draft regulation for a digital euro is still under negotiation by the European Parliament and Council. Adoption of this regulation is essential before the ECB can issue the digital euro. ECB leaders, including Christine Lagarde, have called on lawmakers to accelerate this legislative process. By October 2025, the ECB has indicated a second phase of the preparation for the Digital Euro. By then, the ECB will have prepared an outreach plan, procurement standards, and technology providers.

CBDC and Denmark

Denmark was one of the first countries in Europe to explore the possibility of a CBDC. Danmarks Nationalbank discarded the idea following a 1-year study from 2016 to 2017, deciding that a CBDC solution would do little to improve the current financial infrastructure of the country.

In 2021, Danmarks Nationalbank stated that In Denmark, a retail CBDC would, in practice, mean that it issued digital money to citizens and companies. The question of a retail CBDC is primarily an institutional matter regarding the structure of the financial system, which is of importance to the private sector, central banks and other institutions’ demarcation and role. A decision to issue a retail CBDC will not necessarily require amendments to legislation but will reasonably require a thorough public debate and political decision.

Danmarks Nationalbank said it would continuously assess the various reasons for CBDCs and their possible relevance in relation to the financial system in Denmark, due in part to the fact that the derived long-term opportunities are still unclear, adding that with the associated costs and possible risks, it was not clear how retail CBDCs will create significant added value relative to the existing solutions in Denmark.

Pros and Cons of CBDCs

According to research by the Bank of England, BIS and by several other central banks, the benefits of CBDCs include supporting increased innovation in the payment system with:

Possible challenges related to use of CBDCs could include:

The ECB commissioned multiple exploratory reports on the feasibility of a digital euro in 2020 and 2021. The ECB’s working paper suggests a two-tier system for a “general purpose” CBDC. In July 2021, the ECB announced that it would launch a 24-month investigation phase for the digital euro project, which aims to address key issues regarding the design and distribution of a digital euro. The investigation phase will include focus groups, prototyping and conceptual work. In February 2022, the European Commission announced that it will propose a bill that would serve as the legal foundation for the issuance of a digital euro by the ECB. In May 2022, Christine Lagarde stated that she would be willing to back the digital Euro. By June 2023, the ECB and European Commission had significantly advanced their legislative and technical work, moving closer to launching a pilot phase for the digital euro in 2024. The pilot phase is expected to assess the practical implementation of the digital euro, following the completion of the current investigation period​.

The working paper states that the use of CBDC for retail payments is the primary use-case for the development of a digital Euro. The paper also rejects the motivation of using CBDC as a store of value, which would involve consumers switching deposits from commercial banks into CBDC. The working paper also recommends that a CBDC should be interest-bearing, with attractive interest rates offered for smaller sums suitable for payments and lower rates available for larger amounts.

Unregulated Cryptocurrency Products – Background 

Regulators and national central banks are challenged by unregulated independent cryptocurrency products. Whereas CBDCs are under the authority of the central bank, almost all cryptocurrencies are decentralised, and not controlled or managed by any central authority.

Obviously, financial market authorities and the national central banks are not in favour of unregulated cryptocurrency products, and they see them as a systematic risk for the financial system. Their intention to regulate the respective cryptocurrency exchange platforms has gained momentum.

Cryptocurrencies, originally designed as a store of value, are digital assets, developed and maintained on decentralised blockchains, and they can be used as a medium of exchange or payment method. Bitcoin and Ethereum are the most popular forms of cryptocurrencies worldwide used by consumers and businesses for transactions.

As of 2022, over 400 million people worldwide used cryptocurrencies, with merchants and businesses in more sectors accepting it as a form of payment. The major payment schemes VISA and Mastercard, PayPal and along with a growing number of financial institutions, have launched services allowing consumers to purchase or use cryptocurrencies for a range of applications.

According to a 2022 Deloitte survey, around two-thirds (64%) of surveyed merchants indicated that their customers have significant interest in using digital currencies for payments, and 83% expect consumer interest in digital currencies for payments to increase or significantly increase over the next 12 months.

In addition, merchants are motivated by the prospect of enabling immediate access to funds (40% of respondents), taking advantage of blockchain-based innovations in decentralised digital finance (39%), and allowing in-house management of the revenue cycle/treasury/finance department (39%).

Over half (54%) of large retailers (with revenues of $500 million and up) have invested more than $1 million on enabling digital currency payments, while only 6% of small retailers (with revenues of under $10 million) did so.

A 2022 survey from Checkout.com found a sharp rise in people wanting to use cryptocurrencies as a means of payment, with 40% of 18-35-year-old consumers citing their desire to experiment with using crypto as a payment method, up from less than 30% in 2021. Meanwhile, over 80% of businesses say offering crypto has attracted new customers, led to a decrease in chargebacks, while just over 60% have seen higher authorisation rates accepting crypto payments.

A recent report by Triple-A for 2024–2025 reports estimate cryptocurrency ownership in Europe has climbed to approximately 50 million people, up from around 30 million in 2023. Crypto adoption in Europe grew to 8.9% of the adult population in 2025, driven by greater institutional access, major regulatory changes (like MiCA), and clearer frameworks for exchanges and wallet providers. This keeps Europe’s ownership rate ahead of previous years, though still trailing regions like Asia and the Americas in terms of total share and growth rate.

Stablecoins

Stablecoins are a type of asset-backed cryptocurrency, whose value is typically pegged to the value of an underlying asset such as USD, GBP, or commodities like gold. Stablecoins are partially backed by real assets, and they are designed to have a value pegged to real-world assets, therefore avoiding the extreme volatility that affects cryptocurrencies.

Stablecoins offer the potential benefits of cryptocurrencies, like transparency, security, immutability, and decentralised control, while maintaining the guarantees and stability that come with using fiat currency. Stablecoins have potential to be used in cross-border payments, providing a secure, online environment for peer-to-peer (P2P) transactions to take place without needing decentralised cryptocurrencies or to pay fees to convert money into local currencies.

As of mid-2025, there were more than 200 stablecoins globally, comprising a market that’s worth approximately $230 billion.

A survey of central banks in January 2021 found that two-thirds of respondents are actively researching the potential impact of stablecoins on financial stability. However, some regulators in the US and China, consider stablecoins as a potential serious risk to financial systems. The risk is especially high with centralised coins, such as those backed by fiat and issued by private organisations, as economic power would be disproportionately concentrated on a single entity.

The widespread use of stablecoins in payment platforms could also pose a systemic risk, in relation to the validation and confirmation of stablecoin transactions which could interfere with payment systems. If stablecoin users couldn’t access money in their e-wallets and businesses couldn’t receive payments, economic activity would be greatly disrupted. However, these risks have not deterred major institutions like JP Morgan and VISA to explore stablecoin use cases via partnerships and internal R&D.

Tether As of mid-2025, Tether remains the largest stablecoin globally, holding a market share of over 60%. This dominance is driven by its massive liquidity, broad adoption across exchanges and blockchains, and large reserve holdings, especially in U.S. Treasuries. Its nearest competitors include USD Coin (USDC), Binance USD (BUSD), and decentralized stablecoins like DAI, although Tether’s market share far exceeds them. Recent reports have shown Tether’s involvement in major financial markets and even Bitcoin mining, further reinforcing its stronghold on the crypto landscape.

Regarding Facebook’s Diem (formerly Libra) project, it was officially abandoned. Diem’s assets were sold off to Silvergate Capital in early 2022, marking the end of the initiative that once aimed to create a globally accessible digital currency. Regulatory pressures and internal challenges led to the dissolution of the project.

Market Size and Dynamics

Cards in Issue

Based on ECB figures, there were 9.95 million bank cards in Denmark by end-2024, up by 0.15% from 2023. Debit cards amounted to 83.96% of the Danish card base while credit cards accounted for 16.04%. In total, there were 1.67 cards per capita at end 2024.

Viewed in terms of Dankort, Denmark is relatively mature market, but debit card numbers have increased in recent years as banks have launched international debit cards branded Maestro, Electron, VISA Debit, and Debit Mastercard. According to DNB, there were 4.48 million Dankort cards co-badged with VISA and 0.14 million Dankort-only cards as at end-2024. In 2024, 53.62% of the Danish bank cards in circulation carried a Dankort brand. Contactless cards accounted for 9.44 million, 94.89% of the total.

14 - Cards Issued in Denmark
(000s)202020212022202320242025FGR 23/24CAGR 5Y
Cards with cash function9,6019,6459,8909,9749,9869,9980.12%0.68%
Cards with a payment function9,4869,5679,8299,9399,9549,9970.15%1.00%
- cards with a debit function7,8197,9248,1898,3288,3578,3860.35%1.56%
- cards with a credit function1,6671,6431,6401,6111,5971,611-0.87%-1.66%
Total cards9,4869,5679,8299,9399,9549,9970.15%1.00%
- thereof cards with Dankort brand4,8404,8164,7924,6864,4814,285-4.37%-1.62%
- thereof contactless cards8,6359,1459,4439,3899,4459,5010.60%2.11%
Payment cards per capita - DK1.631.631.661.671.671.67-0.33%0.46%
Payment cards per capita - EU27 total1.651.721.851.811.811.860.00%2.94%
Note: all Danish cards have a cash function and a payment function.
Source: ECB, DNB.

In June 2003, Danske Bank launched Denmark’s first Maestro programme, ‘Danske Ung,’ initially aiming at the 15-17 age group. Processing of the Danske Maestro cards was carried out by NETS and the cards were Maestro-branded for domestic and international use. The cards did not incorporate a Dankort logo or Dankort acceptance. Also, in 2003, Nordea launched VISA Electron in Denmark. Maestro has since been replaced with Debit Mastercard in Denmark, with Danske Bank replacing all of its cash cards with Debit MasterCards.

Nearly all the growth in Denmark’s debit card base has come from debit cards co-badged VISA and international debit cards, which reached 800,000 by end-2008, largely reflecting the marketing of Maestro and Electron to youth segments. Based on DNB figures, international debit cards seem to have reached about 3.87 million by end-2024. Until the agreements between PBS and SuperBest, Coop Danmark and Dansk Supermarked, these cards could not be used in the main Danish supermarket chains.

Card Fraud

Card fraud is one of the most fascinating aspects of the payments industry, not least because it is relentless and mutating. EMV implementation and 3D-Secure, combined with Strong Customer Authentication (SCA), have done much to reduce domestic losses from lost and stolen cards in Europe. However, the war against fraud losses and the changing face of fraud continues to be a threat to the payments industry, including Denmark.

The global card fraud challenges are Card-Not-Present fraud (CNP), cross-border fraud and counterfeiting on non-EMV cards. CNP fraud accounted for 80% of the total value of card fraud losses in 2020. From 2017, a new payment fraud category is fraud losses on contactless card payments. International card fraud continues to be smaller in scale than domestic card abuse but is proportionately far more common. And of course, fraudulent cross-border transactions on cards continue to grow on all purchase channels.

Losses from card fraud on the internet and cross-border fraud on domestic cards have grown significantly. Following EMV implementation, card fraud has moved increasing to countries where POS terminals or online shops have not yet been migrated to EMV and SCA, respectively, and to cross-border fraud with compromised cards.

The breakdown of card fraud losses by method of compromise already indicates the importance of distinguishing between domestic and cross-border fraud losses. The method of compromise covers the means by which fraudsters obtain payment cards or card details. Notable methods of compromise in a complex payment world are CNP fraud based on theft of card credentials and card lost and stolen fraud followed by growing ID fraud and by cross-counterfeit fraud.

The main method of compromise responsible for losses in many European countries is now the theft of card credentials. A high proportion of these card fraud losses are caused by the growth in e-commerce, and still the lack of use of strong customer authentication methods such as 3D-Secure.

In a post data-breach world, identity information, payment credentials, account credentials and responses to security questions are widely available for purchase in bulk. Complete fraud exploits and zero-day attacks are also easily available on the black market for outright purchase or as a hosted / fully managed service.

In the digital payments world and having the changing face of fraud in mind, there are significant challenges for card issuing banks, payment service providers and their supporting processors.

Dankort is the Denmark-specific domestic card scheme, co-badged with an international card brand for card use abroad. Denmark enjoys the benefits of early adoption of contactless chip and PIN. Denmark’s card fraud loss mix is aligned with European trends and, as expected, CNP fraud has increased.

Due to high card limits on Danish-issued cards, Denmark had an unusually high amount of lost and stolen fraud up until 2017, which accounted for 12% of total losses. This was reduced in 2018 by 50% due to a cooperation between Danish police and NETS.

Another explanation for lost and stolen fraud in Denmark is the digitalisation of banking and closure of many bank branches. Thus, many Danish banks accommodated customers demand for cash by providing the majority of Danish cardholders with high card limits for cash withdrawals at ATMs and cash-advances in merchant checkouts.

In 2022, CNP fraud made up 72.1% of total card fraud losses, down by 15.00% from 2021, and compared with 78.1% in 2018.

According to FICO, the international fraud prevention specialist, card fraud losses in Denmark fell by 10.31% compared to 2021.

15 - Card Fraud Losses on Danish Cards
(in DKK Mio.)20182019202020212022GR 21/22GR 5YCAGR 5Y
Counterfeit cards23.713.16.91.51.50.00%-95.31%-45.78%
Card lost or stolen fraud40.631.022.430.031.55.00%-53.47%-14.19%
ID fraud2.22.22.21.01.00.00%-54.55%-14.59%
Card not present fraud236.5195.7138.2103.588.0-15.00%-62.44%-17.78%
other losses0.00.00.00.00.0−−−
Value of card fraud losses303.0242.0169.7136.0122.0-10.31%-63.71%-18.35%
Card lost or stolen fraud in%13.4%12.8%13.2%22.1%25.8%17.07%28.20%5.09%
CNP fraud in%78.1%80.9%81.4%76.1%72.1%-5.23%3.50%0.69%
Source: FICO, Euromonitor International.

Contactless Fraud – According to DNB, the fraud pattern in Denmark has changed gradually along with the prevalence of contactless payments. Numerically, contactless fraud constitutes a larger share than the technology’s share of the total payments. In 2020, fraud relative to the total value of card payments per mille stood at 0.33 in 2020, compared to 0.46 in 2019.

At first glance, contactless payments have made low-amount fraud easier. However, the risk is reduced as the PIN number has to be entered when the amount is above DKK 350 or after a series of repeated transactions below the contactless limit amount level.

Dankort Fraud – For Dankort and international payment cards, most of the misuse of payment cards takes place on the Internet. Since 2007 there have been more fraud-cases with payment cards on the internet, than in retail outlets. In 2011, almost 80% of the fraud-cases involving the Dankort cards were related to e-commerce. Similarly, for international payment cards around 70% of the fraud cases in 2011 were related to e-commerce. Nevertheless, the total loss caused by internet fraud cases with Dankort cards is limited compared to total turnover. Hence, from 2004 to 2011 the loss caused by fraud cases declined from approximately DKK 88 to just DKK 35 per one million DKK in revenue.

Dankort card fraud losses amounted to just under 0.02% of total turnover in 2015, slightly less than in 2014. Fraudulent use of the Dankort continued to be low in an international comparison. However, from 2013 to 2016, the number of reports of data fraud in Denmark exploded from 647 to 22,339.

In 2016, it was 0.018%. Dankort card fraud losses totalled DKK 104.6 million (2015: DKK 66.1 million). In 2017, it was 0.019%. Dankort card fraud losses totalled DKK 97.7 million. Fraud in connection with card not present sales, primarily via the Internet, again constitutes close to 50% of all fraudulent use.

In 2018, Nets created a 3D-Secure solution for Dankort cards. Danish merchants have reported that they experienced zero cart abandonment rate and no fraud since the implementation of this solution.

In 2024, Dankort fraud amounted to DKK 29.4 million, from DKK 26.7 million in 2023. Relative to the total Dankort-based consumption, fraud constituted 0.10 per mille in 2024 compared with 0.08 per mille in 2023. The majority of fraudulent behaviour is related to theft or loss of cards. Fraud of this kind totalled DKK 22.1 million in 2024 (2023: DKK 21 million), while fraud in online shopping amounted to DKK 7.3 million (2023: DKK 5.7 million).

To a great extent, this development can be attributed to the requirements under the Revised Payment Service Directive 2 (PSD2) in force from January 2021 for use of two-factor authentication for card payments on the Internet, implemented in Dankort Secured by NETS. PSD2 has also resulted in a reduction in the limit for when Dankort Secured by NETS must be used from DKK 450 to DKK 225 in January 2021. Online Dankort fraud as a share of the total online use of Dankort has decreased every year since 2016 but remained unchanged at 0.05 per mille in 2022.

According to ECB figures published in October 2021, the value of fraud as a share of transaction value in Denmark was 0.041% and 0.042% by volume in 2019. According to ECB figures for H1 2023, the value of card fraud as a share of transaction value in Denmark was 0.027% (EU/EEA average: 0.031%) and 0.008% (EU/EEA average: 0.015%) by volume. A significant update on Fraud numbers across Europe is expected from the ECB in 2026.

Acquirer card fraud losses by value were composed of ATM fraud: 12%, POS fraud: 24%, and CNP fraud: 64%. In 2019, the issuer card fraud losses in Denmark by value were comprised of ATM fraud: 6%, POS fraud: 19%, and CNP fraud: 75%.

The significant difference between issuer fraud and acquirer fraud is related to the fact that Denmark has a higher share of online and cross-border payments compared to larger European countries.

As most POS card transactions are authorised online-to-issuer, acquirer fraud rates in Denmark are under control except for offline vending machines, e-commerce and a few other hotspots. Obviously, EMV implementation has contributed significantly to declining fraud rates.

Danish banks are pushing 3D-Secure, offer PIN-change services at ATMs and SMS notification to inform cardholders about the use of their credit card. The increasing numbers of chip technology cards, contactless cards and display cards have led to improved safety of payment transactions. Credit card fraud prevention measures taken have been pushing 3D-Secure, updating banks’ fraud prevention systems and real-time-scoring and implementing more rule-based fraud control mechanisms.

Card Use

A remarkable characteristic of the market is the very high use of debit cards in the country. Debit card payments have shown a compound annual growth rate of 4.08% between 2020 and 2024, and they accounted for 96.68% of card payments by number and 91.56% by value.

In 2024, Danish cards accounted for 2.74 billion payments (+4.98%) with a total value of DKK 831.30 billion, up by 4.24% from 2023. The ATV per card payment was DKK 302.62 (€40.57), and there was an average of 276.0 payments per card per year. In 2024, cross-border card payments on Danish cards accounted for 16.01% by number and 18.96% by value.

Included in the card payments total in 2024 were 939.98 million remote payments on cards in online shops (+9.78%) with a total value of €410.76 billion (+6.02% vs 2023). 34.98% of all card payments and 49.41% of total card payments value were made on the internet.

16 - Payments with Danish Cards
202020212022202320242025FGR 23/24GR 5YCAGR 5Y
Cards with a payment function9,486,0009,567,0009,829,0009,939,0009,954,0009,996,9790.15%5.11%1.00%
Ø payments per card per year233.0240.2243.7263.3276.0286.94.82%16.28%3.06%
Ø payment value (DKK) per card per year63.568.570.280.283.586.64.08%30.18%5.42%
Payments (m)2,210.262,298.072,394.862,616.822,747.062,867.754.98%22.22%4.10%
- thereof remote payments (m)520.79568.77605.17856.26960.961,037.5212.23%109.44%15.93%
- thereof POS payments (m)1,689.461,729.301,789.691,760.561,786.101,830.241.45%-0.15%-0.03%
- thereof cross-border payments (m)231.46249.90295.77371.55439.85520.7018.38%70.22%11.23%
- thereof on debit cards (m)2,149.432,238.002,325.112,533.072,655.892,784.664.85%22.15%4.08%
- thereof on credit cards (m)60.8360.0669.7583.7591.1783.098.86%24.54%4.49%
Value of payments (DKKbn)602.39655.40689.55797.49831.30865.894.24%36.84%6.47%
- thereof remote payments (DKKbn)206.68243.85267.26387.42410.76423.136.02%113.87%16.42%
- thereof POS payments (DKKbn)395.71413.13422.29410.07420.54442.762.55%1.22%0.24%
- thereof cross-border payments (DKKbn)72.8586.25114.75136.39157.58174.6515.53%67.26%10.83%
- thereof on debit cards (DKKbn)563.45613.41638.40731.76761.12791.654.01%37.25%6.54%
- thereof on credit cards (DKKbn)38.9541.9951.1565.7370.1874.246.77%32.46%5.78%
ATV per card payment (DKK)272.54285.20287.93304.76302.62301.94-0.70%11.95%2.28%
Source: ECB, DNB.

Dankort Use – Of the card payments total, payments on Dankort cards amounted to 45.07% by number (2020: 60.90%) and 45.06% by value (2020: 65.72%), respectively (see Table 18 and below). Compared with historical figures from 2020, the market share of Dankort cards continuously declined while cards with international brands gained traction in Denmark.

Card Use Per Capita

Card use in Denmark is high compared to other countries. In 2024, there were 444.4 debit card payments per capita (+4.34%) while credit card use was 15.3 payments per capita (+8.33%). In total, there were 459.6 payments. According to Dankmark Nationalbank, 207.2 payments per capita were made on Dankort cards.

17 - Card Payments Per Capita in Denmark
202020212022202320242025FGR 23/24GR 5YCAGR 5Y
Debit card payments368.7382.3391.9425.9444.4463.74.34%18.88%3.52%
Debit card value€12,965.3€14,089.7€14,464.2€16,511.7€17,072.9€18,081.03.40%33.22%5.90%
Credit card payments 10.4 10.3 11.8 14.1 15.3 14.08.33%21.21%3.92%
Credit card value€896.2€964.5€1,159.0€1,483.1€1,574.3€1,655.46.15%28.56%5.15%
Total card payments 379.1 392.6 403.7 440.0 459.6 477.64.47%18.96%3.53%
Total card value€13,861.5€15,054.2€15,623.1€17,994.8€18,647.2€19,736.43.63%32.81%5.84%
Source: calculated using ECB data, population figures and exchange rates.

Debit Card Use 

In 2024, there were 2.65 billion debit card payments (+4.85%) with a total value of DKK 761.12 billion (+4.01% vs 2023). The ATV per debit card payment accounted for DKK 286.58 (€38.42), and there were 317.8 payments per debit card per year.

18 - Payments with Danish Debit Cards
202020212022202320242025FGR 23/24GR 5YCAGR 5Y
Debit Cards7,819,0007,924,0008,189,0008,328,0008,357,0008,386,1010.35%8.06%1.56%
Ø payments per debit card per year274.9282.4283.9304.2317.8332.14.48%13.04%2.48%
Ø payments value (DKK) per debit card per year72,061.077,411.977,958.187,867.791,075.694,400.73.65%27.02%4.90%
Payments (m)2,149.432,238.002,325.112,533.072,655.892,784.664.85%22.15%4.08%
Value of payments (DKKbn)563.45613.41638.40731.76761.12791.654.01%37.25%6.54%
ATV per debit card payment (DKK)262.14274.09274.57288.88286.58284.29-0.80%12.37%2.36%
Source: ECB, DNB.

Dankort Use – Though 96.88% of debit cards are Dankort cards co-badged VISA, the VISA brand on Dankort cards is for international card use only. Within Denmark, only the domestic Dankort card brand is processed on the Dankort network.

In 2024, there were 1.23 billion payments on Dankort card (-2.4% from 2023) with a total value of DKK 374.6 billion (-2.2% from 2023). The ATV per Dankort card payment accounted for DKK 302.50 (€40.56), and there were 207.2 payments per capita and 276.3 payments per Dankort card per year.

Of the card payments total, payments on Dankort cards amounted to 46.62% by number (2011: 84.0%) and 49.21% by value (2011: 87.5%), respectively. Compared with the figures from 2011, the market share of Dankort cards has continuously declined while debit cards with international brands gained traction.

19 - Payments with Dankort Cards
202020212022202320242025FGR 23/24GR 5YCAGR 5Y
Cards with Dankort brand 4,840,0004,816,0004,792,0004,686,0004,481,0004,306,446-4.4%-7.8%-1.6%
- thereof domestic Dankorts316,000263,000255,000176,000140,000128,114-20.5%-60.6%-17.0%
- thereof Dankorts co-badged VISA4,524,0004,553,0004,537,0004,510,0004,341,0004,178,333-3.7%-3.7%-0.7%
Ø payments per Dankort card per year278.1281.6293.4270.6276.3282.22.1%-1.2%-0.2%
Ø payments value (DKK) per Dankort card per year81,792.686,520.687,871.581,732.083,587.186,554.22.27%5.90%1.15%
Value of Dankort payments (DKK bn)395.9416.7421.1383.0374.6372.7-2.2%-2.4%-0.5%
Number of Dankort payments (m)1,346.01,356.11,406.11,268.11,238.21,215.3-2.4%-8.9%-1.8%
ATV per Dankort payment (DKK)294.12307.27299.47302.02302.50306.710.2%7.1%1.4%
Total Dankort payments per capita230.9231.7237.0213.2207.2203.3-2.8%-11.3%-2.4%
Total Dankort card value per capita (DKK)67,903.371,179.270,976.764,390.862,667.962,364.6-2.68%-5.01%-1.02%
Note: domestic payments on Dankort cards are processed in the Dankort system, independent from co-badged VISA brand.
Note: Dankort figures include online payments.
Note: NETS deleted card duplicates occurring when a Dankort card was issued as replacement for a card close to expiry.
Source: NETS, Danmarks Nationalbank (DNB).

Credit Card Use

Statistics for Danish credit and charge cards numbers and transactions are confined to those from the ECB. Up to end-2004, all were Eurocard or Mastercard cards. Transactions have been buoyant up until pandemic-driven lockdowns of 2020, in part reflecting the use of credit cards for toll payments on the Øresund Bridge between Denmark and Sweden, which has also stimulated demand for credit cards from regular travellers.

In 2024, there were 91.17 million credit card payments (+8.86%) with the total value DKK 70.18 billion (+6.77% from 2023). The ATV per credit card payment was DKK 769.82 (€103.21), and there were 57.1 payments per credit card per year.

20 - Payments with Danish Credit Cards
202020212022202320242025FGR 23/24GR 5YCAGR 5Y
Credit Cards1,667,0001,643,0001,640,0001,611,0001,597,0001,610,878-0.87%-8.01%-1.66%
Ø payments per credit card per year36.536.642.552.057.151.69.81%35.38%6.25%
Ø payments value (DKK) per credit card per year23,362.925,556.931,190.440,800.143,946.146,086.97.71%43.99%7.56%
Payments (m)60.8360.0669.7583.7591.16783.098.86%24.54%4.49%
Value of payments (DKKbn)38.9541.9951.1565.7370.18274.246.77%32.46%5.78%
ATV per credit card payment (DKK)640.25699.09733.32784.84769.82893.49-1.91%6.35%1.24%
Source: ECB, DNB.

Leading Card Issuers

Danske Bank, the main issuer of Mastercard credit and charge cards, reported 1.2 million customers in Denmark who had taken up ‘customer packages in 2017. In 2024, the group reported nearly 1.6 million customers in Denmark. Card accounts are defined as bundled products, which may include VISA, American Express or Mastercard cards as well as loans and netBank.

Danske issues contactless Dankort cards, co-badged Dankort/VISA cards, contactless credit cards branded Mastercard or VISA, and prepaid cards. According to Danske, the bank had over 4.2 million cards in circulation in 2024.

Following an agreement in 1999, Danske had issued American Express cards in Denmark up to end-2019. At end-2006, the American Express acquiring was transferred from Danske to PBS (now: Teller of NETS Group).

In May 2015, Danske Bank launched a contactless biometric Mastercard cards developed by Norway-based Zwipe that features an integrated fingerprint sensor as authentication device.

In October 2020, Danske Bank launched what it called an eco-friendly payment card made from 86% recycled plastic, with the ultimate goal of replacing all existing plastic payment cards currently used by Danske Bank customers.

Nordea Bank Danmark (NBD) had an estimated 1.5 million debit cards and 435,000 credit cards issued in Denmark at end-2023. Nordea issues contactless cards branded Mastercard, VISA, or Dankort/VISA.

In June 2021, Nordea Bank and payment processor NETS entered into a new agreement, further prolonging their long-term partnership, enabling the latter to provide payment services to the financial institution in Denmark and Finland. NETS will continue to deliver card issuing, processing, fraud prevention and detection, dispute handling, digital solutions, and managed services, for Nordea’s card products, including Dankort in Denmark.

Jyske Bank offers customers a choice of Dankort domestic cards, co-badged Dankort/VISA cards, VISA Debit cards and Mastercard credit cards, plus the mono-bank Jyske Bankkort ATM card. From 2016, new Jyske cards had an added contactless function. In 2018, Jyske Bank launched Apple Pay for its VISA card cardholders, and has expanded its mobile payment options in 2019 to include Garmin, Fitbit, GooglePay and MobilePay for its account holders. In 2019, Jyske Bank announced it would discontinue its VISA/Dankort product and split it into two separate cards. This will allow customers to choose which card to use in Danish POS terminals.

During 2020, Jyske Bank launched a new mobile banking platform, and a new VISA card. The sale of Jyske Bank Gibraltar was also finalised.

Nykredit issues contactless Dankort/VISA cards, VISA debit cards and Mastercard credit cards. In 2019, it also began offering ApplePay and MobilePay options for account holders.

Sydbank issues Dankort cards, co-badged Dankort/VISA cards, Debit Mastercard cards, and Mastercard credit cards. Sydbank launched its Mastercard programme in 2005, with ten different credit card products. 70,000 Debit Mastercard cards had been issued at end-2010. From 2016, new Sydbank cards have an added contactless function. Sydbank provides no subsequent update on card numbers.

Foreign Card Issuers

Along with SEB and Nordea, other foreign issuers – Citibank (until mid-2010), Ikano Bank, EnterCard and Santander Consumer Bank – and international consumer finance service providers are active in Denmark.

SEB Kort Danmark, part of the Swedish SEB group, issued Eurocard, Mastercard and Diners Club cards in Denmark, together with private label programmes such as MagasinKort. SEB Kort also issues GlobeCard Mastercard credit cards.

With purchase of the Eurocard issuing business from PBS International for SKK490 million (€54 million), SEB Kort took over a portfolio of 166,000 cards and obtained exclusive use of the Eurocard trademark in Denmark as well as in Norway, Sweden and, finally acquired from NETS in January 2014, in Finland.

In January 2003, SEB Kort, the region’s biggest charge card issuer, purchased the private label portfolio of Magasin du Nord, the Danish department store group, and announced conversion of the portfolio into Mastercard co-branded cards. It followed this with the purchase of PBS International’s Eurocard portfolio in June 2004.

Ikano Bank – in July 2010, Ikano Bank took over Citi’s consumer finance portfolio in Denmark, together with the Shell Mastercard programmes in Norway and Sweden. Ikano issues also the IKEA KASH private label credit card.

Citibank’s Danish operation claimed to have found a niche in the credit card market in March 2007 with the launch of a co-branded Mastercard programme with Shell which combined the features of a fuel card and a credit card. The card offered discounts on petrol and on general purchases by cardholders. By mid-2008, 15,000 cards had been issued. In 2023, Ikano offers VISA cards exclusively among international brands, and also accepts a wide range of Nordic charge cards, including IKEA, H&M, and others.

EnterCard Denmark – Cooperation between FDB, the Danish Consumers Cooperative Society, and EnterCard International, the Nordic credit cards joint venture between Swedbank and Barclays, began when EnterCard won a contract in June 2006 to offer a combined membership and credit card to FDB’s more than 1.6 million members. Launch of the new FDB membership and credit card began in 2007.

In September 2010 EnterCard Denmark launched a credit card programme with its second Danish partner, the labour union LO Plus. ‘LO Plus Guldkort’ is a Mastercard-branded combined credit- and membership card which offers members discounts in about 1,000 outlets across Denmark. Out of 1.2 million LO members in Denmark, 750,000 were enrolled in the existing LO Plus scheme. Effective 2018, access to the Gold Card is still available, though EnterCard appear to have discontinued access to its standard Mastercard product, which is now only available in Norway and Sweden.

Santander Consumer Bank (formerly GE Money Bank) – In June 2014, Banco Santander Consumer Finance signed a definitive agreement to acquire GE Money Bank and its consumer finance business in Sweden, Denmark and Norway for around €700 million. In 2016, Santander Consumer Finance Nordic had over 1.2 million customers in the Nordic region. GE Money Bank Denmark was rebranded as Santander Consumer Bank.

Among the international consumer finance providers, GE Money operated in Denmark since 1994. In 2001, GE extended its presence by buying AcceptFinans from Union Bank of Norway (Gjensidige NOR, which subsequently merged with DnB). AcceptFinans issued the Accept card, a major card brand in Denmark, which could also be co-branded with Mastercard. In Denmark, GE Money Bank offered cards, consumer loans and retail sales finance. In 2005, it launched MoreCard, a Mastercard-branded credit card which offers cashback and a credit limit of DKK 30,000 (€4,000). In 2018, the group launched Apple Pay and MobilePay in Denmark and Norway.

Resurs Bank – In April 2014, Resurs Bank bought the Dan-Aktiv from Crédit Agricole PF. Resurs Bank is active in Denmark, Norway, Sweden and Finland. Resurs Bank issues Mastercard cards exclusively.

Crédit Agricole had been present in the Danish market through Dan-Aktiv, the Danish subsidiary of its consumer finance and private-label specialist Finaref, which it purchased from electronic goods retailer F Group for €53 million in 2004. Dan-Aktiv had a portfolio of 65,000 customers in Denmark, while Crédit Agricole had an existing presence in Finland, Norway and Sweden. In October 2006, Dan-Aktiv launched the Fona card, the first renewable contactless private label credit card in Denmark. The Fona retail chain installed optical readers in its stores to facilitate the use of private label cards for in-store purchases, as well as to allow customers to check their accounts directly.

EkspresBank – LaSer Cofinoga (now: BNP Paribas PF) gained entry to the Danish market in late 2005 through its acquisition of HandelsFinans from Danske Bank. Established in 1987 as a provider of loans to consumers, HandelsFinans had agreements with more than 4,600 shops and department stores but was not regarded as part of Danske’s core business. LaSer Cofinoga described HandelsFinans as the leader on the Danish in-store credit market; it reported outstanding loans of €200 million at end-2006.

HandelsFinans’ main partners in Denmark’s retail sector included El Giganten, Dansk Supermarket and Post Danmark. In August 2006, HandelsFinans signed a collaboration agreement regarding the handling of payment transactions with PBS. Post Danmark and Handelsfinans agreed in May 2007 to extend their 1999 agreement to offer a wider range of credit products.

In October 2007, HandelsFinans obtained bank status and adopted the name EkspresBank, launching a new VISA bank card called OneCard in November, together with a co-branded VISA Extra card in collaboration with the oil company YX Energi.

Forso Nordic was the 50/50 joint venture between Crédit Agricole-owned consumer finance specialist Sofinco and FCE Bank plc, the captive finance company of Ford Europe. Set up in 2008, it operated in all four main Nordic markets: Denmark, Finland, Norway and Sweden. It was sold to Santander Consumer Finance in November 2019.

Appendix

Significant Events in Danish Banking – source: Yearbooks research

October 2023

December 2022

September 2010

 Jyske Bank completed the acquisition of PFA Bank

Jyske Bank took over the activities of Svenska Handelsbanken in Denmark following its acquisition

Completion of the merger PBS with Nordito. PBS Holding in Denmark changed name to NETS Holding.
September 2010 EnterCard launches ‘LO Plus Guldkort’ with the LO labour union.

Background about PBS

PBS was originally founded in 1984 to manage the payment processing activities of Danish banks. Following its establishment, a number of the existing Danish interbank payment and processing companies were merged with PBS. In 1997, PBS became a holding company, with operating subsidiaries carrying out the various payment services and processing services.

As the interbank company at the centre of the Danish card market, PBS has undergone considerable restructuring in recent years, but took the important step from January 1, 2006 of reincorporating PBS International (PBSI), which acquires international credit and debit cards, and which was formerly split from PBS as part of an earlier reorganisation in July 2003.

The restructuring of PBS in July 2003 established three separate companies: PBS Holding, whose subsidiaries managed card operations and services and Dankort acquiring, including the Danmont e-purse and CoinClick internet micro-payment services which were discontinued in 2004; Multidata Holding, responsible for payroll products and real estate; and PBS International. PBSI continued to issue all Eurocard cards in Denmark, but in June 2004 sold its portfolio of 166,000 Danish Eurocards to SEB Kort, the credit/charge card subsidiary of SEB of Sweden. Mastercard cards, together with Dankort and VISA/Dankort cards, are issued by individual banks.

Somewhat contrary to SEPA best practice, PBS thus once again became a cross-border acquirer as well as a processor and is acquiring in more than 20 countries for large regional merchants such as Scandic Hilton and including airlines, ferry companies and retailers. By mid-2008, PBSI’s services were used by 200 card issuers, representing 8.2 million cards, with 150 banks transferring payments over its infrastructure.

During 2005, following a period of turmoil over acceptance of Dankort, the domestic debit card brand, PBS took back its historic function of serving as merchant acquirer of Dankort on behalf of the Danish banks (see chapter on regulation, below), so regaining 91,000 merchant customers. Earlier, from April 2001 Dankort merchant agreements (for physical transactions) were moved from PBS to the merchant’s current account bank.

PBS has also been at the centre of EMV implementation efforts in Denmark. On the issuing side, the banks began with single application EMV cards and re-issued all 3.3 million Dankort cards during 2004. By end-2008, more than 93% of Dankort payments were chip-based and 86,000 merchant locations were equipped with chip terminals. While ATMs are owned and managed by the Danish banks, merchants buy their own terminals from vendors in Denmark. To stimulate chip roll-out, PBS entered the POS terminal market in 2007 and now sells and leases terminals.

Also, during 2008, PBS purchased the Swedish company Auriga AB, which collects card transactions from about 6,000 Swedish retailers. Auriga provides a payment module for use in Swedish internet shops as well as a prepaid gift card product which is used by PBS and others. PBS said the Auriga purchase would give it a stronger foothold in the Swedish payments market and a bigger range of services.

Danske Holding in PBS

When Danske and Realdanmark merged, Danske gave an undertaking to the Konkurrencestyrelsen (Danish competition authority) to reduce its holding in PBS from 43.6% to 25.9% of the share capital and the voting rights. The intention was for Danske to reduce its holdings in companies whose business activities are important to the Danish payment infrastructure. In December 2002, Danske announced it had entered into an interim agreement with Danmarks Nationalbank (DNB), the Danish central bank, to sell the central bank 17.7% of its shareholding in PBS Group companies.

After the July 2003 restructuring, DNB retained its shareholding in PBS Holding. Danske Bank was permitted to retain its proportionate stake in Multidata Holding. Its 17.7% stake in PBS International was ‘warehoused’ by Sydbank, which sold the shares in early 2005 to Lønmodtagernes Dyrtidsfond (LD Pensions), a savings institution. Sydbank retains its original stake of 3.9% in PBSI.

The agreements left Danske Bank Group owning 25.9% of the capital and voting rights in the affected companies of the PBS Group and 43.6% of the capital and the voting rights in the remaining PBS Group. Danske has continued to use the joint infrastructure at PBS after the sale.

Merchant Fees, DMIF and Regulation

Denmark’s ‘Act on Certain Payment Instruments,’ which for two decades provided that the banks could not charge merchants for accepting Dankort, was amended in 2003. As from January 1 2005, banks were allowed to charge merchants DKK0 .5 (€0.07) per transaction. The charge applied only to chip-based cards and was aimed at incentivising the banks to complete EMV implementation by end-2004.

Although the legal changes were implemented as planned, retailers passed the charge on to shoppers, leading to widespread protests, and it became an issue in the Danish general election campaign during the opening weeks of 2005. Dankort was widely boycotted, and the number of transactions fell by 18% in the first two months of 2005. On February 25, the new government effectively imposed an agreement with the banks under which the DKK 0.5 fee would be replaced by an annual fee per retailer.

On 1 July 2005, the Act on Certain Payment Instruments was amended, and an altered Dankort model was put in place with effect from March 1 2005. The amendment, among other things, stipulated that Dankort merchants might in future be charged an annual subscription totalling DKK 125 million (€16.8 million). The subscription is divided into three price brackets according to transaction volumes.

The amendments to the Act did not affect fees on internationally-branded credit/charge cards issued by Danish banks for domestic transactions. These remain pegged at 0.75% of transaction value, or 1.25% of transaction value with a minimum of DKK 1.95 on the internet. As part of the changes, fees on Maestro and VISA Electron were reduced from 0.75% to 0.4%, with a maximum charge of DKK 4.0.

Banks were also permitted to offer Dankort cards with balance controls, aimed at the 15-17 years’ age group, with a charge to retailers of DKK 0.75 per transaction. In March 2008, PBS said it would reduce fees for acceptance of international cards from July 1 2008 and announced a goal of enabling payments with international cards in at least two-thirds of Danish merchants by 2012.

To encourage use of Dankort on the internet, an exemption to the Act was made in 1999, when banks were permitted to charge DKK 1.95 plus 0.10% of the transaction value for SSL-based transactions.

Following the acquisition of NETS by the private equity investors in March 2014, Mastercard implemented new domestic interchange fee rates (DMIF) for its card brands in Denmark.

Denmark Joins e-Invoicing Initiative PEPPOL

PEPPOL is the Pan-European Public Procurement Online (PEPPOL) project. After Norway, Denmark, Sweden, France, Italy, Austria, Ireland, Poland and other countries which are currently implementing the specifications.

The Coordination Office for IT Standards (KoSIT) was given the responsibility to become the German PEPPOL Authority with the role to oversee the governance of the network and the implementation of the PEPPOL-based solutions at the national level.

The draft directive on electronic invoicing in public procurement recognises that the multiplicity of non-interoperable standards results in excessive complexity, legal uncertainty and additional operating costs for economic operators using e-Invoicing across Member States. The scope of the Directive which applies to electronic invoices received by contracting authorities, issued as a result of the performance of public contracts, stresses the key role of the public sector in ensuring interoperability and standardisation.

The goal of the Open PEPPOL community is to continue spreading adoption of e-procurement amongst European governments, promoting simplification through implementation of the PEPPOL specifications and by connecting previously isolated islands of e-procurement to form the PEPPOL network.

After one year of operation, the Open PEPPOL Association counts almost 80 member organisations from the private and public sector across 17 countries, with over 60 Access Point providers available to connect suppliers and contracting authorities to the open network where standards-based documents are exchanged.

More and more countries in Europe have announced the introduction of e-invoicing legal requirements in line with e-Procurement Directive 2014/55/EU. The Directive states that by 2019, Member States must ensure that contracting authorities and public bodies are able to receive and process electronic invoices.

Denmark will join PEPPOL in 2019, all Danish customers will get access to a large international network of companies and organisations that are connected to PEPPOL.

Since 2005, it has been mandatory for all Danish government authorities to be able to receive and send invoices electronically via the NemHandel network. The Danish Digitisation Board (Digitaliseringsstyrelsen), which is in charge of the development of e-invoicing to the public sector in Denmark, has decided to connect NemHandel to the PEPPOL network in 2019. The purpose of this is to promote interoperability with other EU countries, thus creating better conditions for trade and digital cooperation between Member States.

The transition means that all companies and organisations registered in NemHandel (more than 51,000 in the public and private sectors) would be automatically registered in PEPPOL in 2019. Thereafter, these companies can start sending e-invoices to all other registered recipients in all countries using PEPPOL, provided that the operator they use is an approved PEPPOL access point.

NETS Background and Strategic Development

The original plans for the merger of PBS and BBS into NETS were announced in March 2007. The combined entity was launched with pro forma annual volume of 2.7 billion transactions from a network of 215,000 POS terminals and a target of 5 billion transactions by 2008. By mid-2008 plans for a full merger had been scaled down and NETS was being described as a joint venture focused on acquirer processing in the region, starting with Denmark, Norway and Sweden.

As part of the 2010 merger deal, NETS’s card acquiring business has been established as a separate, independent company under the brand Teller, which has absorbed PBS International (PBSI). However, Dankort acquiring in Denmark and Bankaxept acquiring in Norway is the domain of the local retail banks.

By mid-2009, NETS had contracts with six of the 10 leading acquirers in the Nordic and Baltic region and was on target to provide services to all of them by end-2009. The six acquirers named by NETS were Nordea, Danske Bank/Sampo, Teller, Swedbank and SEB, while it had also signed a letter of intent with Handelsbanken. NETS Group aims to enable merchants to have a single acquiring contract instead of one in every country where they operate.

Another part of the rationale for NETS is the Pan-Nordic nature of the region’s businesses. Its first customer was Nordea, which has operations in every country; Varner, a Norwegian group which includes the Dressman clothing chain, is another. In September 2008, NETS signed a three-year contract with SEB Kort, which will route its Nordic payment transactions through the NETS platform. SEB Kort has acquiring agreements with more than 200,000 merchants in the region.

In June 2017, The Danish banks renewed the clearing services agreement with NETS, which represents one of the key elements in the payments area in Denmark. The agreement covers clearing of account-to-account payments completed through the Express clearing and Intraday clearing systems in Denmark.

The Express clearing system handles instant account-to-account based payments and the Intraday clearing system is primarily used for mass payments such as payroll disbursements, where clearing is done continuously during the day. The agreement between Finance Denmark, representing all Danish banks, and Nets runs until the end of 2022.

Digital & Card Payment Yearbooks