The Nordic region, known for its tech-savvy population and stable financial systems, is becoming a prime breeding ground for ambitious fintech startups. With high mobile payment adoption, a focus on sustainability, and robust regulatory frameworks, the stage is set for exciting innovations and collaborations.
According to an Ipsos report, consumers in the Nordic markets (Norway, Sweden, Denmark, Finland) and Switzerland are leading the way in mobile wallet usage, ranging from 83% to 94%, the figure represents a range of 10-15% higher than the average in Europe.
The region’s collaborative spirit extends to partnerships like the recent one between Enable Banking, CRIF, and Strands. This move will accelerate Open Finance adoption, unlocking new opportunities for fintechs and established players. However, while robust regional regulations ensure consumer trust, obtaining a banking license can be challenging.
Fortunately, Banking-as-a-Service (BaaS) offers an alternative path to global success for fintechs across Europe and the UK. A recently announced partnership between B4B Payments and JUNI strongly represents this, demonstrating how Nordic Fintechs can leverage existing infrastructure to comply, scale, and expand their reach.
B4B Payments is a regulated Electronic Money Institution (EMI) in the UK and Lithuania that provides a full range of financial services. It is also a Principal Member of Mastercard Europe and a partner of Visa Inc. in the USA.
Samir, co-founder and CEO of Juni, speaks about their partnership;
“B4B has enabled us to scale Juni and continue our fast-paced growth while, most importantly, giving our customers more value when using our platform. Through B4B Payments, we’ve launched new currencies and cards and look forward to building out our offering in 2024.”
B4B Payments’ end-to-end BIN sponsorship model supports fintech from co-brand to fully regulated issuer and scheme members. It offers spend settlements, reconciliation, and safeguarding of customer funds, as well as AML and fraud monitoring so that you can focus on innovation rather than regulatory compliance.
Fintech companies in the Nordics can leverage their comprehensive solutions across BIN sponsorship, payment accounts, FX, card issuing, and compliance as a service to deliver best-in-class financial service solutions to their global users without dealing with the technical headaches of regulatory compliance or licences.
This also helps new companies integrate, launch, manage, and grow faster while offering businesses in their ecosystem a better experience. With the increasing number of ambitious startups from the region expanding globally, leveraging embedded payment solutions that comply with the regulations of the Nordic region and other markets like the UK and EEA will pave the way for new global unicorns to emerge from the Nordic region.
Ready to launch your payments vision? Meet the B4B Payments team at Money 20/20 Europe, stand 8A 300, or book a meeting here.
