Posten and Nordea announce electronic bill payment and presentment alliance
Posten, Sweden’s national postal operator, and Nordea, the largest financial services group in the Nordic region, today announced a strategic alliance to provide electronic bill payment and presentment (EBPP) services. The agreement broadens the EBPP market for both consumer and business customers.
The strategic alliance, which will be implemented in fall 2003, provides enhanced simplicity for both Posten and Nordea customers. Bill presentment is facilitated via eSkicka, Posten’s e-messaging service, and bill payment via postal girot. Posten’s business customers can therefore reach a majority of Sweden’s online banking customers, while Posten gains access to an expanded payment solution for its ePostboxen, or e-mailbox, customers. Similarly, Nordea’s 1.4 million e-customers in Sweden may now receive bills directly from Posten’s business customers.
The alliance with Nordea enables Posten’s customers to freely choose either postal giro or bank giro as payment options. Posten also has a previous strategic agreement for EBPP services with Handelsbanken.
The alliance will make it easier for all online banking customers in Sweden, irrespective of their bank, to request electronic bill presentment from Posten’s business customers.
Anders Thoursie, head of Posten eServices, comments: “The agreement with Nordea marks an important step in the development of the electronic bill payment and presentment market. A joining of forces between major companies such as Posten and Nordea is key to establishing a new infrastructure. As the Nordic region’s largest online bank, Nordea is a tremendously important partner.”
Bengt Hansson, head of eBusiness at Nordea, comments: “The volume of online transactions is growing every day. Nordea is today one of the world’s largest processors of online bill payment transactions. We are firmly committed to maintaining a front-line position in the development of e-banking services. This alliance effectively removes all visible and invisible obstacles to consumers and businesses using electronic bill payment and presentment services to their full effect.”
Growing market
Posten and Nordea both are working to improve the electronic infrastructure required to enable all of Sweden’s businesses and consumers to leverage the advantages afforded by electronic processing, such as faster and less expensive services. The alliance enables Posten and Nordea to more easily pursue efforts critical to the development of online services.
Nordea and Foreningssparbanken, one of the largest Nordic banking groups, have developed e-faktura, an e-billing service allowing businesses to send bills directly to customers via the bank’s online service. Handelsbanken, SEB, Skandiabanken and ostgota Enskilda Bank have developed e-giro. Posten has developed the eSkicka service, which enables businesses to electronically send bills and other types of messages. This alliance enables peak cooperation between e-faktura, e-giro and eSkicka, which means electronic bills can be paid via any online bank, regardless of the service purchased by the presenting company.
Posten has also developed ePostboxen, an e-mailbox that serves as a complement to the banks’ online services and that enables consumer customers to securely receive, reply to, manage and file electronically transmitted mail from businesses and governmental agencies.
