More than 30,000 Danish merchants using Verifone POS devices will now be able to accept in-store mobile payments through Swipp — a service owned and supported by a consortium of more than 70 banks. This will be made possible via a “minor upgrade” to their existing terminals and “a number” of locations are expected to go live from December 2015, according to Swipp.

“The partnership will allow more than 800,000 Danes who currently use Swipp to use mobile payments to pay for their goods in-store on a day-to-day basis — currently, more than 50% of all terminals in Denmark are supplied by Verifone,” Swipp says.

“Based on Bluetooth Low Energy (BLE) technology, the service will allow contactless payment from all phones with Swipp. The user experience will be very similar to that of NFC — consumers will need to simply tap the phone in front of the terminal and swipe the app for approval. Consumers will also be able to benefit from Swipp’s high transfer limits, allowing them to pay up to kr25,000 (US$3,569) per day.”

The solution will be available for both standalone terminals in the SME market and for larger retailers with ECR-integrated devices, the company adds.

“The Swipp app relies on account-to-account payments with low transaction costs — no intermediaries and no risk of the payment not getting through to the merchant. Integration from the app directly to the Verifone terminals means no project costs, no extra devices and low barriers to adoption.”

Single service

Swipp was formed by Nordea Bank Denmark, Nykredit Bank, Sydbank, Jyske Bank, Workers’ Landsbank, Spar Nord Bank and members of local banks in 2014, and went on to acquire Paii — the mobile payments joint venture created by Danish mobile network operators — in November 2014 to create a single service for in-store and online payments as well as money transfers.

The company launched an upgraded version of its service in September this year and partnered with Danish drug store chain Matas and others to roll out the solution in more than 10,000 stores. It is also now being accepted in 190 branches of convenience store chain 7-Eleven across the country.

“It has always been possible to pay with Swipp in Danish stores,” the company explained to NFC World. “Since the beginning, it has been possible to pay with Swipp if the consumer ‘Swipps’ to the phone number of the shop, just like a regular transfer between two consumers.

“With the new independent Swipp app, which was launched on September 9, however, it is possible to integrate Swipp payment directly into the cash register software.”

Easy path

“The Danes are very eager to be able to pay via their phones and this is a genuine game changer in mobile payments in Denmark,” says Swipp CCO Peter Bredgaard. “Merchants will experience an easy path to mobile payment as this only requires a minor upgrade of already installed Verifone terminals.

“They avoid extra devices in stores and all the cost and complexity associated with new hardware. As such, it is by far the most cost-effective and fastest implementation of integrated mobile payment services you can embark on as a retail company in Denmark.”

“Verifone opens up BLE communication as a supplement to already active EMV and NFC capabilities and this allows the merchant to integrate new methods of payment without spending time and money on software integration with a number of different payment solutions,” adds June Felix, president of Verifone Europe.

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