Raynor de Best
Content expert covering payments and (crypto)currencies
Digital payments landscape in Sweden - statistics & facts
Digital payments and Sweden are terms that go hand in hand with each other for several years, driven by local services Swish and Qliro, and internationally known Klarna. Sweden boasts one of the lowest shares of cash in the worldwide, leading many to believe that Sweden one day might become a cashless society. The decline of cash was twofold for Swedish consumers: They said in a late 2023 survey they had no choice as fewer places accepted cash. That said, plenty of consumers found digital payments easier to use than cash. For instance, Swish processed over 10 transactions per customer per month in 2023, with most transactions coming from private individuals. That is not to say international brands do not have a foothold. Apple Pay penetration at Swedish POS was around 45 percent at the end of 2023. This may indicate a future growth of digital wallets in the Nordic country.
Digital payments refer to any form of cashless payment or payments conducted without banknotes or coins in either an online or offline environment. This can include mobile payments (digital payments performed with a mobile device), fintech (such companies tend to be at the forefront of payment digitalization), or relatively young trends like buy now, pay later (BNPL) or cryptocurrency. Out of all these cashless options, which developments are noteworthy to know about for Sweden?
Digital payments refer to any form of cashless payment or payments conducted without banknotes or coins in either an online or offline environment. This can include mobile payments (digital payments performed with a mobile device), fintech (such companies tend to be at the forefront of payment digitalization), or relatively young trends like buy now, pay later (BNPL) or cryptocurrency. Out of all these cashless options, which developments are noteworthy to know about for Sweden?
Swish, promoting A2A payments in Sweden
Sweden is one of a few countries in Europe where the local bank developed its own domestic payment scheme, foregoing international, card-based brands. Swish is not the highest ranked of these account-to-account, or A2A, solutions in Europe, but it is widely considered a big reason why Swedes used less cash. Swish overtook Klarna's position as the country's leading online payment brand in 2015, and remained in that position since. The growth figure behind Swish' number of processed transactions has been declining recently, however. Whether this is because of growing use of wallets like Apple Pay or Google Pay in Sweden is not known.The e-krona, Sweden's CBDC
Sweden is one of the few countries outside Asia, Africa, and Latin America that wants its Central Bank Digital Currency, or CBDC. - the "e-krona" - to have a consumer use. A 2023 ranking placed Sweden's consumer CBDC as the fifth-most mature in the world. Sweden's central bank - The Riksbank - said on multiple occasions the e-krona would be a cash supplement, especially towards vulnerable groups in its society. In that sense, Sweden follows a similar course to other regions in the world that hope to improve payment experience with a CBDC, but different from those that hope to improve treasury movements. Domestic payments efficiency was an important motivator for central banks in developed countries to develop a CBDC. Most central banks hoped to preserve their monetary sovereignty with the virtual coin.
