Norwegians adopt new payment habits

The coronavirus pandemic has accelerated the use of contactless payments, while the use of cash is down.

Nordea has noticed a change in the way Norwegians choose to pay during the pandemic. The use of cash is down while mobile payments and contactless payments are up.

“The change has happened extremely quickly during the pandemic, but I think the move towards mobile payments will continue in the future – regardless of the pandemic”, says Randi Marjamaa, Country Senior Executive and Head of Personal Banking in Nordea Norway in an interview with FinansWatch.

She thinks it is more a question of the normal level of cash use in society having gone down over time as well as an increased focus on money laundering.

“The use of cash will pick up again after the pandemic, but it will not reach previous levels,” Randi Marjamaa believes.

However, according to her it will take time for people to change their payment habits.

“We are curious about the permanent changes,” she says.

Up to the customers

Nordea aims to be a frontrunner in launching new, quality solutions. Randi thinks we have had several successes and mentions Apple Pay, Google Pay and Nordea Wallet as examples.

According to her it is mainly the customers who are plotting the course of future payment solutions.

“We’ve let our customers take the lead on what the future standard will be. Our job is to offer them good and simple solutions,” she tells FinansWatch.

“We haven’t said that we prefer for example QR code or contactless payments. What we do know is that the less friction, the more likely the customers are to use the solution,” she adds.