Nordic payments tie-up as Nets and Swish collaborate

Denmark-headquartered payment service provider Nets and Swedish peer-to-peer payments app Swish are carrying out a joint pilot of an in-store payments system.

With a Bluetooth module from Nets attached to a payments terminal, customers can pay using Swish on their mobile phones.

To date, Swish has offered transactions from one person’s account to another, but now, with Nets, it is testing the new service for the retail and services sectors.

It will be piloted in two restaurants initially, but the two organisations plan to expand it in a few months’ time.

“Seven million Swedes walk around with the Swish app in their pocket, and it’s clear that the demand for easier in-store payments is increasing,” said Swish in a statement.

Using the new system, a Bluetooth module designed by Nets is attached to a payments terminal, allowing the merchant to accept payments from mobile phones. Just before the payment is made, a Bluetooth Low Energy connection is made between the phone and the device.

Because the Nets module can be attached, merchants will not need to buy new terminals to accept Swish payments.

It will also support loyalty programmes, and could help merchants make real-time offers to people using geo-tagging.

Nets already provides this Bluetooth functionality to Danish merchants.
 
Jan Lundequist, senior vice-president, merchant services, at Nets, said: “The payment experience is similar to making a contactless payment, which consumers are accustomed to – particularly in countries like Sweden that have high digital penetration. Not only can merchants easily install the technology and accept Swish payments through their existing Nets terminals, but it is also easy and intuitive for consumers to use.”

Swedish consumers have already adopted Swish on a large scale, so the move to in-store payments is a logical step. Gabriela Styf Sjöman, head of networks at Swedish telco Telia Company, told Computer Weekly in a recent interview: “In Sweden, everyone uses Swish to send money.”