Northern countries want their offline card payment solutions

The geopolitical situation has decidedly serious consequences for many sectors of activity, including payments in Europe. While the question of sovereignty The countries of the North no longer hide their ambition to deploy offline card payment systems to their territories.

FACTS

• The subject is put on the front of the stage while information was revealed a few days ago by Tuomas Valimaki, member of the Board of Directors of the Bank of Finland. The latter stated that Finland, Sweden, Norway, Denmark and Estonia were currently working on offline card payment schemes.

• These systems must be able to offer a back-up solution in the event of an internet break in the countries of the region, in particular due to sabotage of existing communication tools.

• The project to deploy an offline card payment system in Finland is still under development. However, it would involve the use of payment terminals capable of encrypting and storing transaction data locally in the event of a cut-off, until the Internet connection is restored.

ISSUES

• Developing local offers: While Finland is now working on the deployment of its system, this is also the case for Estonia and Sweden. The central bank of the latter recently specified that it hoped to deploy its model in July 2026. The central banks of Norway and Denmark are proposing local solutions which are still being deployed.

• Countering the Threat : An underwater fibre optic communication cable currently connects Finland to Europe. Named C-Lion1, it was the subject of a rupture at the end of 2024, causing an interruption of connections and associated services. The risk is therefore real and the current geopolitical situation exacerbates the threat.

• Propose an alternative Tuomas Valimaki said payments were a potential target given their crucial role in the daily lives of local residents. However, the latter are particularly dependent on card payments today, while only 10% of Finns currently use cash as the main means of payment.

PERSPECTIVE

• Adapting models is a key to countering external threats, and the countries of the North today demonstrate their commitment to proposing alternatives to safeguard their payment systems in a difficult context.

• However, this effort is not specific to the northern European region. In France, for example, Credit Cards already offer a model Offline.

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