11 March 2019 – Vipps, the most popular payment app in Norway, and Nets, a market leader in the European payments industry, today announce an agreement to increase the number of payment options for consumers and simplify invoice and bill payments in Norway.
Rune Garborg, CEO of Vipps, comments: "We believe that this agreement will contribute to digitising all paper and email-based invoices in Norway. In the longer term, our ambition is to make the physical invoice obsolete. This partnership will create cost-savings for both corporates and consumers."
Timely payments
Nets is the provider of invoicing solution eFaktura, which Norwegians have had access to for several years, and many consumers are heavy users of online and mobile banking services. But now the time has come to step up the pace of payments digitisation.
Frode Åsheim, Norway Country Director, Nets, elaborates: "Almost 180 million invoices are being delivered on paper or PDF in Norway every year. Consequently, many consumers forget to pay on time, creating cash flow issues for creditors. By combining the functionality of Vipps and eFaktura we are reaching more consumers, particularly young people."
Putting consumers in charge
The partnership will enable consumers to pay all digital invoices and bills in Vipps or through online and mobile banking, including those previously only available in the Vipps app. Consumers will be able to receive even more invoices digitally, already filled out with relevant account details and the amount to be paid – increasing convenience for the consumer and the likelihood of timely payment.
Åsheim continues: "We want to make payments more convenient and enable consumers to receive bills and invoices on their preferred platform. Combining Vipps and eFaktura will empower digital consumers by providing them with an overview of their finances. This is a significant improvement on today, as currently consumers receive bills on paper, via email, or through Vipps or eFaktura, depending on which solution the invoicing business uses."
Garborg adds: "All digital invoices that are today provided in eFaktura or Vipps Regning will be available as Vipps eFaktura. The consumer decides how to pay their digital invoices and bills, be it in Vipps, through online banking, mobile banking or other connected digital channels. Consumers will also have access to a full overview of all invoices paid across these channels in their online banking account, including those paid in the Vipps app."
No need for new integration
Despite the differences to the front-end of the solution, the flow of digital invoices in the back-end will remain unchanged. This mean that banks, corporates and suppliers will not have to update their systems and integrations when implementing the new solution.
More than 3.2 million Norwegians use Vipps and around 2.6 million use eFaktura, which distributes approximately 100 million invoices each year.
About Vipps:
The story about Vipps is really like a small fairy tale. Over the course of six months our app was downloaded more than one million times and in three years-time we have become a household brand in Norway. With 3,2 million users Vipps has become a natural part of the Norwegians everyday payment life. We have become a verb which is quite cool. We started as a P2P payment service and have since launched payment solutions for billing, online payments, invoicing and in-store payments. Recently we merged with leading players within payment and e-signing services, BankAxept and BankID, and together we now develop services for both Norwegian and international users.
About the Nets Group
At Nets, we see easier payment solutions as the foundation for growth and progress – both in commerce and society. The Nets Group, which employs 3,500 people and now includes German Concardis and Polish Dotpay/eCard, helps hundreds of financial institutions, and hundreds of thousands of businesses and merchants in Europe make tomorrow a little easier for their customers while delivering unrivalled security and stability. Powering a tomorrow that's easier than today. This is what drives us.
