Delivering real-time, multi-currency, multi-country payments in four Nordic currencies
Project 27 (known as P27) aims to establish a single pan-Nordic payments infrastructure for the 27 million inhabitants of the region. The new payments infrastructure will be a world’s first and create the foundation for multiple initiatives and innovations in the Nordics.
P27 will enable real-time, batch, domestic and cross-border payments to be carried out quickly on a secure and versatile platform. The platform will initially allow payments to flow instantly between people and businesses in Denmark, Finland and Sweden. Norway is not part of the current scope, but the banking community is showing an increasing interest to join P27.
One of the key principles in P27 is to harmonise and standardise payments. Thus, P27 is built on the ISO20022 format with the Nordic Payments Council (NPC) managing the Nordic payment schemes. The NPC is a non-profit member association combining four Nordic bankers’ associations, banks and payment institutions covered by the PSD2 directive.
Quick facts about P27
P27 is the initiative by six major Nordic banks, including Nordea, to establish a common clearing platform for payments in DKK, EUR and SEK.
The payment types cover domestic and cross-border payments, both instant and in batch format.
As part of P27, banks will develop and offer joint products and services with a Nordic bill payment solution as first in line.
A Nordic collaboration
The P27 operational company was established in 2018 and is a joint venture between Nordea, Danske Bank, Handelsbanken, OP Financial Group, SEB and Swedbank. P27’s vision is to break down barriers for trade and financial interaction between the Nordic countries.
The operational company, P27 Nordic Payments Platform AB, has offices in Stockholm, Copenhagen and Helsinki. As a Swedish company, P27 NPP has applied for a clearing licence from Finansinspektionen, the Swedish Financial Supervisory Authority.
Read more about P27 Nordic Payment Platform AB here.
Watch our Hello Cash Management recording on the topic with our P27 experts Christian Pehrson Senior Cash Management Consultant at Nordea and Tomas L Jonsson Senior Business Developer at Nordea.
The new payments infrastructure will standardise and simplify the Nordic payment landscape and create the foundation for multiple initiatives and innovations. Sweden is the first country to implement the new payments infrastructure.
With the roll-out comes a change where the Swedish banks, including Nordea, will offer standardised ISO200022-based payment services. This means that you as a corporate customer will use a service from Nordea instead of the services that today are offered by Bankgirot.
The migration from Bankgiro services (Leverantörsbetalningar, BG Lön and BG inbetalningar) to Nordea’s P27 customised solutions is ongoing during 2022. Nordea will stop offering these BG services preliminary by the end of Q1 2023. Autogiro will be affected later on. The Bankgiro and Plusgiro numbers will also work until further notice.
If your company is using one of the affected BG Services, we recommend that you prepare for the move to Nordea’s own services. Start by:
Checking with your software provider that your ERP vendor can handle the payment format XML/ISO20022. Especially for the services that your company needs.
Contacting your Nordea adviser to get information about the new format and the Nordea services that can be useful for your company.
Checking that your system can handle the XML/ISO20022 format, if not, there are also companies that offer to convert the old Bankgiro format to XML.
P27 aims to establish the world’s first integrated region for domestic and cross-border payments in multiple currencies through an open-access, common payments infrastructure for the Nordic region. Once P27 becomes fully operational, banks will be able to offer their customers standardised products and services across the Nordics. In Sweden, preparations are well underway to make sure businesses and consumers can benefit from the changes ahead.
The race towards instant cross-border payments is crowded. Like the beginning of a bicycle race, participants are lining up, some with a spirit of cooperation and others with a more competitive mindset. Governments, banks and organisations are all vying to get out in front — but the course is long and a winning solution requires both speed and security to succeed.
The true value of P27 are the things that can be added on top
Tino Kam, Head of Transaction Banking Product Management at Nordea, spoke to P27 Nordic Payments to share his take on the value of P27, the platform’s expected benefits, and the importance of having a robust and resilient payments platform that serves the entire Nordic region. This article was independently edited by P27 Nordic Payments and is reshared here on Insights.