Denmark Country Report
- Published Date: May 2019
A comprehensive overview of the cards, payments and consumer banking market in Denmark.
What to learn from this Denmark payments research report:
- Which links in the value chain are being disrupted by new players as cash use plummets
- Why regional payments incumbent Nets is under pressure in areas it once dominated
- How the abolition of surcharging will affect Denmark credit card usage
- Which card types are ripe for co-branding
- What Danes use (and choose not to use) their credit cards for
DENMARK CARDS & PAYMENTS REPORT | KEY FACTS
- Denmark is moving towards being a cashless society. Use of payment cards and mobile payments is extremely high by international standards. The average adult Dane carries two payment cards and made 437 card purchases in 2018. This is one of the highest rates of card use globally.
- The majority of card transactions in Denmark are made with domestic debit scheme Dankort. Although most such cards are co-badged with Visa, the Dankort function is favoured for domestic transactions.
- Credit card use in Denmark is skewed towards travel and e-commerce. Three-quarters of total spend on Danish issued credit cards is made either abroad or online.
- Surcharging, once commonplace for credit card transactions, is now banned, which could encourage greater use of credit cards domestically.
- Danske Bank's MobilePay app, launched in 2013, has over four million users with the average user making 69 transactions in 2018.
- MobilePay is primarily used for P2P transactions, but use is growing for purchases at both physical and online merchants. It accounted for around ten per cent of Danish e-commerce spend in 2018.
- The two largest banks operating in this market – Danske Bank and Nordea Bank Denmark – are the leading Danish credit and debit card issuers.
- Nets is the owner and operator of the Dankort scheme and acts as the sole acquirer. While it also dominates acquiring on the Visa and Mastercard networks, competition is growing in that space.
- Bambora and Clearhaus are emerging as Nets' main competitors.
- Bambora operates at the POS and online, while Clearhaus is focused on online merchants.
Denmark Payments Research | Report Contents
Key Topics
Demographics and the economy
Payments environment
Danish cards market
Mobile payments
Profit pool
The networks in Denmark
Key retail banks and issuers
Acquiring and processing
Online acquiring
Danish regulatory and other cards market information
Appendices: Denmark card data
Appendix I: Demographics and the economy
- Demographic and economic indicators
- Ownership of key consumer devices
- Internet usage by population
Appendix II: Payments environment
- Access points
- Account penetration
- Consumer payment trends
- B2C e-commerce payment methods
Appendix III: Cards market
- Total cards payment metrics
- Contactless cards metrics
- Credit card data for Denmark
- Total credit card data metrics
- Credit cards profitability indicators
- Debit cards numbers for Denmark
- Debit cards metrics
- Appendix IV: Mobile payments
- Mobile proximity payment metrics
- Mobile P2P payments
Appendix V: Profit pool
- Danish profit pool
Appendix VI: The card networks
- Networks' credit card market shares
- Networks' credit card numbers
- Networks' credit card billed volume
- Networks' number of credit card transactions
- Networks' average credit card transaction value
- Credit card interchange fees by network
- Networks' debit card market shares
- Networks' debit card numbers
- Networks' debit card billed volume
- Networks' number of debit card transactions
- Networks' average debit card transaction value
- Debit card interchange fees by network
Appendix VII: Key retail banks and issuers
- Key credit card issuers market shares by credit card numbers
- Key issuers market shares in credit card outstandings
- Key debit card issuers market shares by debit card numbers
Appendix VIII: Acquirers and processing
- Merchant acquirer credit card market share
- Credit card merchant service charges
- Merchant acquirer debit card market share
- Debit card merchant service charges
- Credit card issuer/issuing processor relationships
- Credit card acquirer/acquiring processor relationships
- Credit card issuing processor market shares by card numbers
- Credit card acquiring processor market shares by the number of POS transactions
Appendix IX: Online acquiring
- Online merchant acquirer market share
Denmark Country Report | Selected Extracts
Demographics and Economy: With a low growth rate typical of most European nations, Denmark is facing the problem of an ageing population and a shortage of young workers entering the workforce.
Payments Environment:
Mobile payments are fast becoming the norm, with an estimated 85% of adults now using the method.
Cards market:
Payment cards usage in Denmark is growing strongly. In 2018, total purchase volume on cards stood at $88 billion, representing growth of 46% since 2012.
Mobile Payments:
Denmark is unsurpassed in Western Europe when it comes to mobile payments, though other Nordic nations such as Norway and Sweden are nipping at its heels for the title.
Profit Pool:
Although pre-tax profit looks low compared to other developed European markets, this market has a healthy profit per card.
The Cards Networks:
Most of the traditional banks, including Danske Bank and Nordea, continue to issue exclusively on the Mastercard network, and the network commands a share of over 90% of cards in issue.
Key Retail Banks and Issuers:
The Danish banking market is dominated by two international financial services groups: Danske Bank and Nordea Bank Denmark. However, smaller banks such as Jyske Bank, Nykredit and Sydbank also have healthy market shares.
Acquiring and Processing:
The merchant acquiring market for credit cards in Denmark is dominated by Nets, which holds an approximately 68% share of all credit card acquired transactions
Online Acquiring:
The most popular e-commerce sites in Denmark include Zalando, eBay, Amazon, Saxo, H&M, Wish and Elgiganten as well as the Nets customers (DBA, JYSK, the national lottery, Silvan and Telia).
Regulatory and Markets Information:
On 1 January 2018 regulatory measures were brought in as part of the Danish Payment Services and Electronic Money Act to restrict card surcharges above and beyond the acquiring fee.
Payments Report for Denmark | Entities Referenced
American Express
Apple Pay
Bambora
BOKIS
Business Services
Certitrade
Concardis
COOP
DanDomain
Danish Bankers Association
Dankort
Danske Bank
Denmark
DIBS
Diners Club
DNB
Elavon
EnterCard
ePay
Eurocard
Euroline
Forenet Kredit
Gate2Payments
Google Pay
Handelsbanken
Ikano Bank
Ikano Finans
Ingenico
iZettle
JCB
Jyllands Kreditforening
Jyske Bank
Keycorp
Klarna
Kortaccept
Mastercard
MobilePay
MPS
Nets
Nordea Bank
Nordic Capital
Nordito
Nykredit
Online
OP Financial
P27
Paii
Payment
PayPal
Payson
PBS
PensoPay
Pleo
QuickPay
ReePay
Rejsekort
Samport
Samsung Pay
ScanPay
SEB
SEB Kort
Spiir
Straksclearing
Sumclearing
SumUp
Swedbank
Swedbank Card Services
Swipp
Sydbank
Teller
UnionPay
Unions
United Credit
Vipps
Visa
Visa Norge
WeShare
More Nordic Card Payment Reports
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Verisk financial reports include detailed market and competitor intelligence on payments cards, e-money, acquiring, retail banking, and consumer credit in Europe. Analysts use primary and secondary source data and conduct in-depth interviews with senior industry executives and finance experts.
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