P27 ‘full steam ahead’ with 2021 launch plans

After an intensive first quarter and rising uncertainty connected to COVID-19, P27 nevertheless remains focused on launching a new payments platform in early 2021.

“P27 is moving full steam ahead,” says CEO Lars Sjögren.

“We’re maintaining an extremely high tempo even if 2021 feels like a long way off at the moment.”

While the coronavirus pandemic has altered daily working routines for Sjögren and his team at P27, he doesn’t see the crisis affecting P27’s ambitious timeline so far.

Nor does he believe it changes the underlying imperative behind P27’s mission to build the world’s first cross-border, multi-currency payments platform.

Transforming the payments market

“We have three major implementations ahead of us in Sweden, Denmark, and Finland so that we’ll be ready to go live by next year,” he says.

In Sweden, where P27’s activities have come the farthest, the company continues to collaborate closely with the platform’s four “front-runner banks” — Swedbank, Handelsbanken, Danske Bank, and Klarna — which will be the first banks to join the platform.

“We’re also working with the P27 owners and other banks around product development. This involves a lot of practical work related to the transformation of the Swedish payments market,” Sjögren explains.

‘P27 is a fintech startup‘

In addition, P27 is in close dialogue with financial authorities in the region about securing necessary regulatory permits.

“And we are well on our way toward carrying out Danish kronor and euro transactions,” adds Sjögren.

P27 is also spearheading the creation of a new solution for invoice payments expected to succeed Sweden’s Autogiro system that will be accessible to businesses in all the Nordic countries.

Real-time, cross-border payments

In addition to working diligently on more than 40 projects related to the planning of implementation, P27 is also expanding as a company, having grown from zero to 35 employees stationed in three countries in just a matter of months.

“It’s important to remember that P27 is, in essence, a fintech startup,” says Sjögren.

“We’re working hard to both build up the company and realize the solution we’ve envisioned for enabling real-time, cross-border payments across the Nordics.”

Note: The official launch of P27 services is subject to regulatory approvals and therefore P27 will not conduct any business activities until required regulatory approvals are obtained.