Collection of Danish Banks Get Together For New Mobile Wallet

Denmark is known for a lot of things, including beer and Legos—the two of which should never be mixed after dark; just ask anyone who’s ever stepped on one—but now, a collection of Danish banks have gotten together to produce a new near-field communications (NFC) mobile wallet system for use in the country.

The 62-bank consortium, known as BOKIS, has turned to the Nets digital payment company to bring the wallet out, which will be available to all customers of the various banks in the BOKIS group.

BOKIS members include such names as Jyske Bank, Spar Nord Bank, and Nykredit Bank, among others.

The new wallet represents the first multi-bank consortium in Denmark to deliver a complete bank-issued mobile payment solution, allowing users access to payment with a quick tap.

BOKIS’ effort will be coming to the market fairly late in the game, so it may have something of a tough time getting users behind it.

There is, however, a concerted effort in Denmark to get rid of cash—the plan, at last report, was no more currency in the country by 2030—so any mobile payments system will likely be able to find at least some market as users are no longer able to latch on to cash.

That’s a concept echoing throughout Scandinavia; Sweden plans to be out of cash in the next five years, and Norway is fairly close in projection to Denmark.

There’s also something to be said for the bank connection that BOKIS represents, as security in mobile payments is still a huge problem.

With a bank essentially vouching for its own service, the concept becomes as stable as a bank account does, and may pull in some users hesitant to make the switch.

If the projected plans to go cashless succeed, however, there should be plenty of users stepping in on some front or another because there’s simply no other option.

This isn’t a good way to get interested customers—the worst market to be in is the one where occupants are forced to buy; just look at Obamacare—but it’s a way to get customers.

Still, BOKIS has a substantial offering afoot, and if it can convince its customers to make the move, it should be able to take advantage of changing market conditions to yield success.