Nordic Fintech Highlights – September
October is here, and autumn is in full swing, both in industry news and in our own calendar.
Our Strategy Talks webinars are back for the autumn. First up: join us and Visa on October 9 at 12:00 CEST for a 30-minute talk on making cross-border payments feel local. Domestic payments in the Nordics and Baltics are instant and easy, but once money crosses a border, it gets slower, pricier and harder to manage. We’ll look at what it takes to close that gap. Register here
Nordic Banking Forum is getting closer. On 26.11., around 500 leaders from banks and financial services meet at Clarion in Helsinki. Confirmed speakers come from Berenberg, Mastercard, Handelsbanken, DSGV, Nordea and Revolut. Around the main stage there’s plenty of side activities and networking, including the Insurance Arena on 25.11., which brings insurers and their vendors together for roundtables and matchmaking.
The full September review is below.
September updates
September was one of the busiest months of the year in our tracker. Finnish banking took most of the attention, but the wider pattern was movement across borders, with Nordic players opening in each other’s markets and international ones arriving in the region. Underneath it all, AI agents began showing up in live payments and compliance work.
Banks
Finnish banking had a crowded month. Profit warnings, the completion of S-Bank’s takeover of Oma Savings Bank, and Trade Republic’s arrival with a 3 % current account all landed within weeks of each other. Margin pressure is meeting consolidation and new competition at the same time. Elsewhere in the Nordics, leadership changes continued.
Partnerships
Most partnerships were routine vendor deals, but a few changed structures. Vipps MobilePay moved into a new European payments joint entity, a step toward mobile wallets that work across borders. Nordnet and ABG Sundal Collier formed a private banking joint venture, and Danske Bank started offering investment advice on BlackRock’s Aladdin platform. More and more, incumbents are buying or sharing capability instead of building it alone.
Launches
Agentic AI moved from demos into live transactions, with Denmark’s first agentic card payment and the Tink founders returning with an agentic compliance startup. Brokers kept building products of their own, from ETFs to in-house research.
You can find all the monthly Nordic Fintech updates from the past over here.
Country specific news
Finland
Consumers can now receive Lowell’s invoices directly in their mobile banking app
NBX selects Tieto Banktech to support digital and physical payment cards for stablecoin users
Evli strengthens its foothold in Europe – company expands operations to Norway
Sampo has reduced its ownership in NOBA
Bank of Åland intends to establish operations in northern Sweden and provide cross-border services
Saldo Bank and finperks partner to drive rewards and cashback to users in Finland and beyond
Hovi Partners with Findynet to Accelerate EU Digital Identity Ecosystem in Finland
Sompo Japan and ICEYE collaborate on flood risk modelling
coconet expands further into Open Banking ecosystem through partnership with Enable Banking
Tieto Banktech enables fintech XONO SOFT’s expansion into card processing
Change in Alisa Bank’s Management Team
Inside information, profit warning: Alisa Bank lowers its outlook for 2026
Oma Savings Bank Plc lowers its earnings guidance for 2026
Enable Banking named to the Sifted 100: Nordics
Denmark
Jyske Bank Enters Into an Agreement to Acquire Formuepleje
Danske Bank and Mastercard complete Denmark’s first agentic AI payment
Adyen Partners with Flatpay to Power SMB Expansion Across Europe and Beyond
Danske Bank offers investment advice via BlackRock’s Aladdin platform
Danske Bank: Connecting Banking Data to Enterprise AI
Exclusive: Former Saxo Bank #2 Søren Kyhl leaves CEO role at neobank Lunar
Danish insurtech Norlix raises $1.5M from ex-EQT partner and footballer Thomas Delaney
Saxo Bank bounces back with best ever 6-month period in H1 2026, Profit tops $100M
Sweden
Allica Bank seeks banking licence in Sweden
Payhawk makes Stockholm its Nordic hub in European expansion
Coop Bank chooses Trapets as their AML partner
Safello launches crypto checkout pilot
Doconomy and Swedbank initiate climate research initiative
Evroc and Vilja enter strategic partnership to bring agentic AI to European banks
Vilja powers Martin & Servera’s next-gen SME Lending offering
Swedish fintech Mynt acquires CostPocket
Froda expands to France with Shine to bring fast and fair financing to small businesses
Klarna expands Adyen powered tie-up with online marketplace StockX into US and Canada markets
FIS and Ericsson combine on wallet-led financial services
Adyen names Klarna CFO Niclas Neglen as next finance chief
Greenly and Normative announce merger to boost climate data reporting
Atlar is Now Official in Claude
Parloa Scales Its Treasury Across the US and Europe with Atlar
Nordnet launches new research portal – giving savers access to research from Citi
Nordnet enters the ETF market – launching a series of Nordnet-branded ETFs
Klarna launches Call Status Detection in the Nordics
Swedish fintech Trustly to cut around 200 jobs
Tink founders return with agentic compliance startup
Norway
Firi enters Sweden to fight for 1.1 million crypto owners
European payments collaboration takes next step with new joint entity
Aparta wins Nordic Fintech Awards
Iceland
The Privacy Layer for Onchain Bank Payments
Kvika banki hf.: Jón Birgir Jónsson appointed CEO of Kvika banki
Future events
9.10. Making Cross-Border Payments Feel Local
26.11. Nordic Banking Forum 2026
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