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Payments/NO

Norway

ISO NO · 3 schemes

Summary

  • Vipps dominates mobile payments (~4.2 million users, 75% of adult population)
  • BankAxept is the national debit card (8 in 10 card payments, declining share)
  • NICS Real processes instant payments (205 million in 2024)
  • Norway signed TIPS agreement November 2024 (joining 2028)
  • DNB dominates banking with 53.59% market share

Banking landscape

Central Bank

  • Name: Norges Bank
  • Website: https://www.norges-bank.no/
  • Role: Oversees NICS, monetary policy, signed TIPS agreement

Major Banks (2024)

Rank Bank Name Total Assets (NOK) Market Share Type
1 DNB Bank ASA 3,036,890 M 53.59% Commercial (86.25% of commercial)
2 SpareBank 1 Sør-Norge 386,910 M 6.83% Savings (18.03% of savings)
3 SpareBank 1 SMN 242,730 M 4.28% Savings
4 Sparebanken Norge 215,550 M 3.80% Savings
5 Nordea Norway ~150,000 M ~3% Finnish subsidiary

Market Structure

  • Total Institutions: ~120 financial institutions
  • DNB Dominance: 53.59% of total assets, 86.25% of commercial bank assets
  • Savings Banks: Strong regional presence (SpareBank 1 alliance)
  • Market Capitalization (DNB): NOK 400 billion

Large Corporate Banking (2024)

  • DNB: 89% market penetration (leader)
  • Nordea: Second position
  • Danske Bank: Third position

Payment infrastructure

National Payment Systems

System Operator Type Status
NBO Norges Bank RTGS Active
NICS Real Bits Instant payments Active (migrating to TIPS 2028)
NICS Netto Bits Batch clearing Active
BankAxept Bits National debit card Active
Vipps Vipps MobilePay Mobile payments Active

NICS (Norwegian Interbank Clearing System)

  • Operator: Bits AS (banking infrastructure company)
  • Authorization: Norges Bank (per Payment Systems Act)
  • Operations: MPSI (took over from Nets in 2024)
  • 2024 Daily Settlement: NOK 405 billion average
  • 2024 Incidents: 2 severe disruptions, resolved same day

NICS Components

  • NICS Real: Real-time settlement 24/7/365
  • NICS Netto: Same-day settlement, cut-off ~14:30

Instant Payments (2024)

  • Volume: 205 million instant payments
  • Primary Channel: Vipps mobile platform (P2P)
  • Secondary: Online/mobile banking via NICS Real

November 2024: TIPS Agreement

  • Signed: November 28, 2024 (Norges Bank Governor + ECB President)
  • Service Start: First half of 2028
  • Currency: Norwegian krone (4th TIPS currency after EUR, SEK, DKK)
  • Rationale: Cost efficiency, contingency, Nordic alignment

QR code standards

Vipps QR (Primary Standard)

Attribute Value
Standard Name Vipps QR
Type Mobile payment QR
Operator Vipps MobilePay AS
Norwegian Users ~4.2 million
Population Coverage ~75% of adults
Nordic Total 11.5 million users

QR Payment Methods

1. Merchant Scans Customer QR:

  • Staff scans customer's personal Vipps QR code
  • Payment request sent to customer's app
  • Customer confirms in app
  • No cash, cards, or terminal tapping needed

2. Customer Scans Merchant QR:

  • QR displayed at checkout or mobile card reader
  • Customer scans with Vipps app
  • Common at food trucks, markets, festivals
  • Vipps "at payment terminals" option

3. Terminal Integration:

  • Uses NFC or QR-code scanning
  • Available at grocery stores (REMA 1000, Bunnpris)
  • Scan QR code initiates payment process

International QR (Historical)

  • Vipps users could pay abroad using QR codes
  • Based on Alipay QR-code format
  • Cross-border capability

Vipps QR — technical format

Vipps MobilePay does not publish an open payload standard. Its QR codes encode HTTPS URLs that Vipps MobilePay issues through its QR API and ePayment API. The fetched documentation describes no EMVCo-style TLV merchant payload [11][13][14].

  • Domain control: only QR codes on the qr.vipps.no domain are accepted when scanned inside the Vipps or MobilePay app. Vipps MobilePay says merchants can technically make their own payment QR codes, but answers its own question "will it work?" with "No", because the company keeps control of what is scanned and of universal linking [12].
  • One-time payment QR (dynamic):
    • The merchant creates a payment with "userFlow": "QR" in the ePayment API and receives a link to the QR image [15].
    • In the older eCom flow, the payment deep link (https://api.vipps.no/dwo-api-application/v1/deeplink/vippsgateway?v=2&token=…) is posted to the QR API, which returns a QR image [14].
    • The purchase times out after 10 minutes, so these codes cannot be printed [14].
  • Merchant redirect QR (static):
    • Created with POST /qr/v1/merchant-redirect using a merchant-chosen id and a redirectUrl.
    • The code opens the merchant's web page with any phone camera and does not need the app.
    • It never times out, and its target URL can be changed later without reprinting the code [13].
  • Merchant callback QR (static):
    • Created with PUT /qr/v1/merchant-callback/{merchantQrId}.
    • The API response includes a qrContent of the form https://qr.vipps.no/….
    • When a user scans it, the merchant receives a user.checked-in.v1 webhook and then sends a payment request [16].
  • Personal QR:
    • Each user has a personal QR code in the app, for example https://qr.vipps.no/p/<token>.
    • A merchant scans it and calls POST /qr/v1/exchange, which returns the user's MSISDN (this endpoint was added in March 2024) [17][23].
  • Image delivery:
    • QR images are delivered as PNG or SVG from an unauthenticated image URL.
    • PNG size ranges from 100 to 2,000 px (default 1,024), with a white border of 0–100 px (default 8) [11].

KID (Norwegian payment reference)

KID (kundeidentifikasjon) is Norway's structured payment reference for invoices and giro payments [18][19][20].

  • Format: up to 25 digits. The last digit is a check digit calculated by MOD10 (Luhn) or MOD11. Under MOD11, a remainder of 1 gives a - as the check digit [18][19].
  • Payee setup: each payee registers its KID length(s) and algorithm with its bank, with up to 3 KID structures per AvtaleGiro/OCR agreement [19][20].
  • Where it is used:
    • OCR giro: the KID is printed on the giro and returned to the payee in the OCR giro file, in record positions 50–74 [18].
    • AvtaleGiro direct debit [19].
    • eFaktura, where the KID's customer ID should match the eFaktura reference [19].
    • Corporate ISO 20022 payments, where it is sent as a SCOR structured reference and validated by the bank [21].
  • Operator: Nets built OCR giro, AvtaleGiro and eFaktura. Mastercard bought Nets' account-to-account business, including AvtaleGiro/eFaktura, for €2.85 billion; the sale completed in March 2021 [22]. Mastercard Payment Services now publishes the KID rules [19].
  • International counterpart: the RF Creditor Reference (ISO 11649) (ISO 11649) is the international equivalent.

2024 Payment Statistics (Norges Bank)

  • Web/Terminal Solutions: 20% of physical POS payments (March 2024)
  • Cash Share: 3% of total, 2% of POS, 4% of P2P

Mobile payment apps

App Name Bank Vipps QR BankAxept Mobile
DNB DNB Integrated Yes Yes
SpareBank 1 SpareBank 1 Alliance Via app Yes Yes
Nordea Nordea Via app Yes Yes
Vipps Vipps MobilePay Native Yes N/A

Card Usage Statistics

  • Cards per Person: 572 transactions annually (2024)
  • Norway Rank: One of world's highest card usage per capita

Schemes

Scheme Type Symbology Adoption Technical standard
Vipps QR Payment QR QR Code (HTTPS URL on qr.vipps.no; proprietary, non-EMVCo) 4.2M users —
KID Payment reference Numeric, ≤25 digits, MOD10/MOD11 check digit Nationwide kid
BankAxept Debit card Card 49% of cards bankaxept

Sources

Full country report

NO-norway.md

Schemes

Standards

Primary · 3

Mentioned · 4

source · content/payments/NO/index.md