What is the most popular payment method in the Nordics?
Debit cards remain the most used method across the region, often through a phone. In Norway, 37% of point-of-sale payments were made by mobile in March 2026. Local bank apps such as Swish, Vipps and MobilePay lead person-to-person and many online payments.
In detail
Debit cards remain the most used method across the region, often through a phone. In Norway, 37% of point-of-sale payments were made by mobile in March 2026. Local bank apps such as Swish, Vipps and MobilePay lead person-to-person and many online payments.
Payment by card in the Nordics
Cards are still the backbone of Nordic payments, and two countries keep a domestic debit scheme. In Norway, BankAxept cards accounted for 46% of transactions using Norwegian cards in 2025 and 70% of payments at terminals, while international cards rose to 54% of the market, from 34% in 2020.
Payment by bank transfer in the Nordics
The Nordic banks built instant payments early, and most account-to-account flows now settle in seconds. Norway recorded 210 million instant payments in 2025, the largest share of them started from Vipps. In Denmark, though, less than 5% of payments in physical stores are instant payments. The plan for a shared Nordic clearing house stalled when P27 Nordic Payments withdrew its clearing license application in April 2023, so each country keeps its own rails.
More detail in our #PayWorldTour guide Payment methods in the Nordics.