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P27: Simplifying payments in the Nordics

Disclaimer

Due to changed conditions for P27’s operations, the company withdrew its clearing licence application from the Swedish Financial Services Authority.
P27 and the owner banks will reassess the initiative’s objective and scope.

The owner banks take full responsibility for the Swedish payment infrastructure and the current payments services will continue unaffected.

We still recommend you to move to ISO 20022 XML as this will mean you are prepared for upcoming changes and can benefit from a standardized global file format.

You can continue to follow our guidelines for how to implement ISO 20022 XML, as the guidelines follow new standards for Nordic payments and are not tied directly to P27.

More information will follow.
  • From nine different clearing solutions to one clearing platform
  • Harmonized payment services - you only need to use one payment format. The new standard format will be ISO 20022 XML.
  • Reach new scale and efficiency with an updated platform - real-time payments in SEK, DKK and EUR and the standardized and improved processes will contribute to lower financial and operational risks.

New modern payment services via a Nordic payment infrastructure

P27 Nordic Payment Platform is set to make payments easier. On this page you can find more information on how these changes affects you as a customer, Q&A's, important deadlines, and details about ISO 20022 XML.

  • P27 Nordic Payment Platform* is a company that was founded by six owner banks in order to establish a Nordic payment infrastructure. The aim is to create a platform for faster, simpler and more secure payments, both for domestic and cross-border payments. These payment services will initially cover Sweden, Denmark and Finland in the following currencies: SEK, DKK and EUR.
  • The plan is for these new Nordic payment services to replace the current payment services for companies, organisations and private individuals.
  • This new platform involves a transition to the standard format ISO 20022 XML for some payment files, with changes taking place at Danske Bank as early as 2023. 
*P27 Nordic Payments Platform, which is developing this new payment platform, is waiting for the necessary legal approvals to start its operations.

See how these changes affects you

The transition to the ISO 20022 XML format for files with Swedish payments has already started and you can read more about how this affects you below. This information will be regularly updated and include more local specific content.


As a Business Customer get to know the Danske Bank future file format:
Bankgiro’s file formats regarding Bankgiro's LB format (Leverantörsbetalningar LB also called Suppliers´ payments LB), Bankgiro's KI format (Kontoinsättningar/Bankgirolön also called Account deposit/Salaries) and Utlands-LB will be phased out by Danske Bank in 2023 and replaced by the file format ISO 20022 XML as the standard format. ISO 20022 XML is also the standard format for the future payment platform P27 and can already be used with Danske Bank.

Danske Bank recommends that you contact your business system supplier as soon as possible about the transition to ISO 20022 XML.

Questions & answers about

How this affects you as a customer

  • The objective of the new payment infrastructure is to create a common and future-proof infrastructure across the Nordic region that makes it easier to send and receive payments. Initially, this will not involve any major changes to private customers as Bankgiro, Plusgiro, payments of salaries, pensions and contributions and Swish will work as usual. 

    Corporate customers with file communication will notice some changes such as new file formats and improved cut-off times. The standard used for the new infrastructure is ISO20022 XML. Danske Bank will provide clear guidelines in the future regarding the phasing out of older file formats. 
  • In Sweden: The implementation of the new payment infrastructure will run over several years with the first phase in the period 2023-2025 which concerns payments in Swedish kronor in Sweden. More information about the Swedish transformation plan can be found on the Swedish Bankers’ Association’s website, the Bank Association website. Danske Bank will notify its customers on a regular basis to ensure that this transformation is prepared in the best possible way.

    In Denmark: Plan to implement batch payments in DKK during H1 2026. DKK instant payments is expected to be implemented via the new P27 infrastructure earliest in the second quarter of 2025. Notice that you can start using ISO 20022 XML format already today and the P27 related ISO 20022 XML solutions are dependent on the implementation of batch payments.

    In Finland: Plan to implement batch payments in EUR during H2 2026. The further details of the timeline are yet to be confirmed. Notice that you can start using ISO 20022 XML format already today and the P27 related ISO 20022 XML solutions are dependent on the implementation of batch payments in EUR.

    In Norway: Today Norway is not part of P27. We have no further information if Norway will eventually join P27.

  • Payments in SEK, DKK and EUR are affected, both within and between the Nordic countries.

    If and when the current payment types are affected may differ slightly from bank to bank and this will depend on when the payments become available on the platform as well as the bank-wide transformation plan for Sweden. This to ensure a safe and secure transition to the new platform. 

    Danske Bank’s plan is to launch the new solutions in steps.

    • In step 1, it will be possible in Sweden to do what we currently refer to as account deposits and salaries via P27. 
    • In step 2, we will be introducing what we currently refer to as giro or supplier payments in Sweden, so called alias payments. 

    The next step will see a gradual introduction of payments in other currencies and countries as well as real-time payments as and when they are made available on the new payment platform.

  • A lot will be changing over the next few years. As a customer of Danske Bank you will enjoy better control in the payment process with simpler, more secure and faster payments, and here follow some additional examples.

    • Payments can be sent later in the day and still reach the recipient on the same day.   
    • Real-time payments are introduced within and between countries.
    • Payments contain more information. An example is that the recipient’s name must appear with the payment.
    • Files that are currently sent directly to Bankgiro will in future be sent to the bank instead.
    • The ISO 20022 XML file format becomes standard for Nordic payments.
    •  It will be easier to make payments as there will be fewer types of payment within Sweden and the Nordic countries.
  • Yes, the new infrastructure will have an alias register and your Bankgiro number will be recorded there. This means you retain your current Bankgiro number and will be able to continue receiving and making payments to other Bankgiro numbers recorded in the register.
  • It will still be possible to use OCR numbers on invoices. OCR numbers will be checked by the sending bank, which means that recipients will be able to improve their reconciliation processes.

  • Danske Bank already supports ISO20022 XML, which is the format that will be used in the future. In order to start using the new format you need to check that your business and payroll system can send and receive files in ISO 20022 XML.

    There are format descriptions on our website relating to the current payment types and we will update them with the adjustments required to send the new Nordic payment types as and when they become available. 

  • Yes, that’s fine. However, as is the case with current foreign payments, there is a requirement that the actual payment must be greater than zero. The current solution to send zero payments will therefore not be supported in the future. If you need to send a payment that contains credit invoices, you can use extended reference information, ERI. The new payment platform makes it possible to send up to 999 invoices in the same payment and indicate whether the invoice is a credit or not. The total amount is also checked by the sending bank.
    By using ERI, the recipient is given information showing that credit invoices have been deducted from the total amount of other invoices. This applies if the receiving bank supports ERI, which we at Danske Bank plan to do.
  • No, this is a service that will not be available for Swedish payments on the new payment platform. Payments must be above zero to be sent to the recipient. Many business and payroll systems today have the facility to check that payments are above zero as this is already standard for international payments and payments in other countries.

  • Credit notes
    The monitoring of credit notes will no longer be possible. Your software must be able to support the customer in reconciling the credit note with invoices that have to be paid to ensure that a payment item is only created if the netted amount is greater than SEK 0. Credit notes and invoices must also be sent in the same file with the same due date. The ISO 20022 XML format enables you to specify invoices and credit notes, which ensure that the payment recipient receives relevant information.

    Reference information
    This new infrastructure will enable extended information to be included with payments, known as Extended Remittance Information (ERI).

    Account reconciliation
    In the ISO20022 XML format, the CAMT052, CAMT053 and CAMT054 files are used to reconcile outgoing and incoming transactions. It is therefore important for your system solution to support these file types. The details for Bankgiro Inbetalningar (Receivables) can be included in CAMT053 and CAMT054. 

    If you want to find out more information about what a payment will look like in the future in Danske Bank, the reference information and account reconciliation, you can read more about it here ISO 20022 XML.

Market specific information

In the first phases of P27, domestic currencies in Denmark, Sweden and Finland will be introduced. To learn more about market variances, time plans and generally how to prepare for P27, visit our local P27 websites.

Changes in the payment industry

See our experts from Danske Bank explain what P27 is and what the changes mean for you as a customer.

Does your company make Swedish domestic payments via files?

The transition to the ISO 20022 XML format for files with Swedish payments has already started. 

See how you are affected by this change, as well as how to change and validate your payment files.

Read more

Questions & answers

About P27

  • P27 is a new payment infrastructure designed to enable the transfer of money within and between the Nordic countries in real time based on uniform rules and payment standards. The name P27 is taken from the number of citizens in the Nordic countries which is 27 million individuals.
  • Danske Bank, Nordea, SEB, Swedbank, Handelsbanken and OP Financial Group have jointly invested in the P27 Nordic Payments company and are therefore the owners of P27 who aim to build a new Nordic payment infrastructure.
  • The current infrastructures in the various Nordic countries are outdated and need investment. Merging and jointly establishing a single Nordic infrastructure will leverage major benefits for our customers and society at large. There is an expectation in the market that payments will be standardised, simplified and improved across national borders and with respect to the Nordic currencies. Many of the banks’ customers are based in the Nordic region or are global and can see multiple benefits from having standardised payment formats and harmonised payment processes.
  • It is true that P27 Nordic Payments AB has acquired Bankgiro. In May 2019, P27 announced that they had begun evaluating the potential of acquiring Bankgiro, and in July 2021, the decision came from the European Commission and Swedish Finansinspektionen that the acquisition had been approved. 

    P27’s acquisition of Bankgiro is a key part of the strategy to build a stable Nordic payment infrastructure. The stability of the Swedish payment infrastructure has the highest priority.
     
    Danske Bank’s customers will not see any changes in the short term. Companies and consumers will still be able to use all products and services related to Bankgiro as before.
     
    We will provide more information in the future as to when and how any possible changes to our products and services will take place. See more in the following section “How this affects you as a customer”.
  • P27 is the company that is building the new infrastructure. Mastercard is a provider to P27 and will be building and making the technical platform available.

Why use the standardised ISO 20022 XML format?

Converting to the ISO 20022 XML format offers many benefits and will result in fewer steps and manual processes when sending a payment, making your daily work easier.

Read more

Visit the web site for P27 know more

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Need to talk to us about P27?

You are welcome to contact us to have a dialogue about what P27 is and what it means for your business.

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