Danske Bank to merge MobilePay with Nordic payment apps Vipps and Pivo
Danske Bank has entered into an agreement to merge its payments app MobilePay with fellow mobile payment providers Vipps and Pivo.
MobilePay was launched by Danske Bank in 2013
Pivo is owned by OP Financial Group, one of the largest banks in Finland, while Vipps is owned by a consortium of banks based in Norway.
Danske Bank says the ambition of the merger is to create Europe’s “most comprehensive digital wallet”.
The banks behind Vipps will own 65% of the new parent company, Vipps AS, while Danske Bank will own 25% and OP Financial Group will own 10%.
The new app will have access to a combined 11 million users across the Nordic region and over 330,000 shops and web shops, making it one of the largest bank-owned mobile payment providers in Europe.
The parties say they have joined forces to “strengthen product development and innovation”.
Glenn Söderholm, head of personal and business customers at Danske Bank, says it is “very expensive” to compete with other global players in the payments space, and that “MobilePay must be part of something bigger to gain scale and pool investments for further innovation”.
The MobilePay app will continue in its current markets and the bank says most users should be unaffected.
The merger is expected to result in a one-off gain for Danske Bank of approximately DKK 400-500 million.
Final approval is expected in the second half of 2021, or in early 2022.
