Nordic Initiative – Going Forward

On February 4, leading Nordic merchants gathered at NHO to address one core challenge:

How do we move from fragmented, scheme-driven solutions to merchant- and customer-centric standards that work seamlessly across channels, devices and borders?

Chief Economist Øystein Dørum opened the session with a strong reminder of the value of cooperation in uncertain times — setting the tone for a discussion focused on coordinated Nordic action.

The conversations confirmed a clear message: fragmented approaches create friction for both merchants and consumers and cannot be solved by individual players alone.

Four Priority Areas

1. Lack of Common StandardsDiverging solutions across payments, identity and authentication create friction, higher costs and limited scalability.

2. Reserved Payments, Refunds and Offline ScenariosConcrete and cost-driving challenges affecting working capital and customer experience — strongly highlighted by the aviation industry, represented by Norwegian and SAS.

3. Identity, Authentication and LiabilityResponsibility models, agent use cases and future EID wallets require clearer frameworks and coordinated Nordic positioning.

4. Limited Merchant InfluenceMerchants carry increasing costs and complexity, yet have limited influence over scheme-driven decisions and ecosystem developments.

The Way Forward

These challenges require stronger Nordic alignment.

Nordic Initiative will now translate shared insight into clear priorities and concrete next steps towards the June meetup — strengthening the Nordic voice in dialogue with banks, schemes and regulatory initiatives.

This marks the next phase of Nordic Initiative.