Swish challenges other card services

Next time you go, bring cash after all - there are occasions where debit or credit won't do. 

  • Small businesses and organizations increasingly choose to get paid via Swish.
  • Though it's not a viable payment source for a visitor since a banking ID is needed, the payment service Swish is increasingly popular among Swedes.

  • We were surprised last year when a B2B merchant in Sweden proclaimed to only accept payments over Swish or on invoice and bank transfer but no longer credit or debit cards. It turns out more and more Swedes are using Swish everywhere and now also when shopping online since the launch of "Swish Handel" (Swish Merchant) in 2017.

  • In 2018, more than 50 million transactions were carried out through Swish Handel - representing a growth of several hundred percent. The business service of Swish is growing at rocket speed and the use of it in e-commerce increased as much as 280 percent in 2018. Similar to PayPal’s Venmo, Swish was launched as an instant money transfer service just over six years ago in a collaboration among six of Sweden's largest banks. Since then, 6.7 million Swedes have begun to use the app, which immediately transfers money to a mobile phone number, a name or email address. The country's most diligent swishers are between 19 and 25 years old while today’s growth is strongest among the retired population.

  • Small convenient stores and organizations can also get paid via Swish through various Swish numbers. But it is through the service Swish Handel that the company hopes to catch the major flows, first on the internet and later in the retail trade. Swish for merchants mainly challenges payment services such as Visa, Mastercard, Klarna and PayPal. It is easy, fast and secure, since the technology is based on mobile banking ID, another bank industry initiative. Swish Handel currently serves 3,000 online stores. Some examples of customers are SJ (Swedish national railways), Åhléns department stores, Selecta (vending machines) and the Blocket online ad service site. Swish is still free for users while corporate customers pay a nominal fee similar to credit card fees for the service.

  • For more info, see www.getswish.se