Norway Country Report
- Published Date: June 2019
A comprehensive overview of the cards, payments and consumer banking market in Norway.
What you will learn from this Norway cards market report:
- Which income streams issuers look to for Norway credit cards profitability
- Why contactless is key for the Norwegian domestic scheme
- How Vipps has shaped mobile payments
- Which regulatory moves in Norway are impacting the market
- How Norwegians balance high revolve rates with credit quality
NORWAY CARDS & PAYMENTS REPORT | KEY FACTS
- Norwegians are the most frequent users of payment cards globally according to Verisk Financial Research analysis. The average adult made 593 card purchases in 2018.
- Although consumers in Norway are among the most indebted in the world, they tend to be responsible borrowers, and credit quality remains good.
- The government has moved to safeguard against consumer debt problems by introducing credit bureaux and tightening regulations on unsecured consumer loans.
- Norway's credit cards market is competitive, with traditional banks, consumer finance specialists and online banks all active. Profitability is sound, thanks to high revolve rates and interest rates along with low loss rates.
- The majority of Norwegian card transactions are on the domestic BankAxept debit scheme, through which almost $70 billion was transacted in 2018. Virtually all BankAxept cards are co-badged with Visa or Mastercard.
- Vipps, created by DNB, now acts as a Norway mobile payments scheme; it is jointly owned by over a hundred Norwegian banks.
- In 2018, Vipps merged with BankAxept and BankID to create a new payments company with significant reach in the Norwegian market.
- Norway is in the process of making improvements to its instant payments infrastructure, with completion expected by 2020. Separately, a pan-Nordic payments infrastructure, P27, is being created by six banks in neighbouring countries: Norway's currency should be part of P27, even though there is currently no direct participation by a Norwegian bank.
- DNB is the dominant bank in Norway, having a leading share across all retail banking categories including credit and debit card issuing.
- Nets plays a vital role in the country's payments landscape, operating the BankAxept scheme on behalf of the banks and serving as the leading acquirer of international schemes.
Norway Payments Research | Report Contents
Key Topics
Demographics and the economy
Payments environment
Norwegian cards market
Mobile payments
Profit pool
The networks
Key retail banks and issuers
Acquiring and processing
Online acquiring
Regulatory and other cards market information
Appendices: Cards Market 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 numbers
- Total credit cards metrics
- Credit cards profitability indicators
- Debit cards numbers
- Debit cards metrics
Appendix IV: Mobile payments
- Mobile proximity payment metrics
- Mobile P2P payments
Appendix V: Profit pool
- Norwegian profit pool
Appendix VI: 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: Acquiring 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
Norway Country Report | Selected Extracts
Demographics and Economy:
Norway is one of the wealthiest countries in the world. The country is highly dependent on the petroleum sector, which accounts for the largest portion of export revenue and about 20% of government revenue.
Payments Environment:
The payment environment in Norway is typified by increasingly popular card payments buoyed by a well- supported and developed infrastructure. In common with the other Nordic countries, cash use is declining, and mobile payments are growing in popularity.
Cards market:
The number of payment cards in circulation was 14.6 million at the end of 2018. There were eight million cards with credit or charge card functionality and seven million with debit functionality.
Mobile Payments:
Norway has seen robust growth in payments through mobile phones. This has been led by Vipps, which has attracted a large user base thanks to its easy to use P2P service.
Profit Pool:
Norway's credit cards industry is profitable thanks to relatively high rollover rates and APRs and low default rates. Profit per card stood at an estimated $51 in 2018.
The Card Networks:
Mastercard is the dominant credit card network in Norway, with a share of almost two-thirds of cards in issue. Debit cards are the most popular form of payment cards in this market, representing almost 80% of total card spend in 2018. Most Norwegians pay for purchases with debit cards.
Key Retail Banks and Issuers:
The top four players in terms of credit card outstandings are DNB Bank, Bank Norwegian, SpareBank1 and SEB Kort. This quartet together represented a market share of 62% at the end of 2018.
Acquiring and Processing:
Nets is the key player in the country's acquiring ecosystem. It is the leading acquirer of international cards, processes all BankAxept transactions and is a leading terminal provider, competing with Verifone.
Online Acquiring:
Payment cards (debit and credit) are the most popular means of online payments in Norway. As BankAxept cannot be used online, the majority of online transactions take place through Visa- and Mastercard-branded credit and debit cards.
Regulatory and Markets Information:
Norway's bankruptcy laws do not allow citizens to shed their mortgage commitments by declaring bankruptcy: this approach limits how much debt Norwegians can accumulate.
Norway Payments Report | Entities Referenced
Aakra Sparebank
AB Toscana Investment
Account information service providers
Advent Funds
Advent International
AISPs
American Express
Apple
ATP
Bain Capital
Bain Capital Funds
Bambora
Bank Norwegian
BankAxept
Bankenes BetalingsSentral
BankID
Barclays
BBS
Betalinger med Raskere Oppgjør
BRO
Circle K
Clearhaus
Concardis
Coop
Cresco
Danske
Denmark
DIBS
Diners Club
DK Online
DNB
DNB Asset Management
DNB Bank
DNB Eiendom
DNB Markets
EDB
EDB Business Partner
EEA
eFaktura
Eika Gruppen
Elavon Merchant Services
ePay
ErgoGroup
Esso
Etne Sparebank
Eurocard
Euroline
Evry
EVRY
Finans Norge
Finanstilsynet
Finland
Finnair
Flekkefjord Sparebank
Flexus card
Gjeldsregisteret
Gjensidige Bank
Gjensidige Forsikring
Google
Google Pay
Handelsbanken
Haugesund Sparebank
Ikano Bank
Ikano Finans
IKEA
Ingvar Kamprad
Interchange Fee Regulation
JCB
Keycorp
Klarna
Klarna Checkout
Komplett Bank
Lillesand's Sparebank
LOfavør
Luster Sparebank
Maestro
Mastercard
mCash
MobilePay
MPS
Nets
Nets/BBS
Nordea
Nordea Bank
Nordea Bank Norge
Nordic Capital
Nordito
Norges Bank
Norges Bank
Norsk Gjeldsinformasjon
Norsk Tipping
Norway
Norwegian Air Shuttle
Norwegian Competition Authority
OP Financial Group
P27
PayEx
Payment initiation service providers
Payment Services Directive
PayPal
PBS
Pengeinstitutternes BetalingsSystemer
PISPs
Priceless
Priority Rule
Privatbanken
PSD
PSD2
Revised Payment Services Directive
Ruter
SAGA
Samport
Santander Consumer Bank
Sbanken
SEB
SEB Kort
SEPA
Single Euro Payments Area
Skandiabanken
Skandinaviska Enskilda Banken
Skudenes
Sogne & Greipstad Sparebank
SpareBank 1
Sparebank Alliance
Sparebanken
Sparebanken DIN
Spillerkort
Swedbank
Sweden
Third-party payment service providers
TPPs
TSYS
US Bancorp
Vipps
Visa
Volvo
Voss Sparebank
Zwipe
More Nordic Card Payments Reports
EUROPE CARDS & PAYMENTS REPORTS
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