Instant payments on the horizon: Nordic experts weigh the impact
Treasury teams across the Nordics are facing a new reality as payment systems evolve from traditional batch-based processing to near and fully instant capabilities. At Treasury 360° Nordic 2025, a panel of corporate, banking and infrastructure experts unpacked the changes on the horizon, and what they mean for treasurers.
Sigrid Pettersson, Head of Cash Management at Assa Abloy, underlined a key concern: understanding the scope of the transformation. “I think most of all, we just need to understand what the change actually will be,” she said, pointing to questions around liquidity impact and clearing processes in Sweden.
As more frequent payment cycles become the norm, organisations will need to adapt. Anna Maria Nyström, Chief Product Officer at Bankgirot, explained that the new system will initially allow “10 cycles available for the banks to package into their services,” offering near-time processing and shortening settlement times significantly.
Implications
The changes will likely have implications for operational routines, such as salary payments and cut-off times. “Will we see any adjustments there when things will be moving quicker?” Pettersson asked. She also raised questions about legacy formats: “Are we still gonna have bank euro accounts? Are we gonna have our BG numbers?”
For banks, the evolving geopolitical and technological context is impossible to ignore. “The world order changed basically and stability and resilience is on everyone’s mind,” said moderator Daniel Lexander, Head of Payments and interim Head of Cash Management at SEB. “That was not the focus when the much leaner infrastructure was planned and set up.”
Technical foundation
Mats Wallinder, Senior Advisor at Riksbanken, confirmed that the technical foundations for instant payments are already in place: “Since November last year, the infrastructure is ready for other payments than Swish payments.” He noted that the current bottleneck is more about business alignment than technology.
Looking ahead, Riksbanken is collaborating on cross-border solutions. “We are working together with the European Central Bank and also Danmarks National Bank regarding tips cross currency service,” Wallinder said. Tests are planned for the summer.
P27
The legacy of the failed P27 project still looms. “We all I think understand that P27 is no more,” said Pettersson. Nyström added that although she cannot speak for the project directly, “there is much value that comes out of that initiative that we now see is being further developed and reused.”
Moderator:
Daniel Lexander, Head of Payments and interim Head of Cash Management, SEB
Panellists:
Sigrid Pettersson, Head of Cash Management, Assa Abloy
Anna Maria Nyström, CPO, Bankgirot
Mats Wallinder, Senior advisor, Riksbanken
• News from Treasury 360° Nordic 2025, at Stockholmsmässan on 22 May, is gathered here.
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