DankortThe only European domestic scheme with a monopoly on acquiring and pricing set by law. Usage is falling, but Denmark is shoring it up in the name of resilience.Nets (Nexi Group) · since 1983Merchant fees are regulated to cover Nets' and the banks' costs in full. A broad political agreement in June 2025 aims to strengthen Dankort and open acquiring to companies other than Nets (Norges Bank, “Payments in the Nordics,” December 2025)
Global registry · Europe · Northern Europe
Denmark Payment systems
10 systems listed.
CurrencyDanish krone (DKK)
Domestic schemeDankort
RegulatorDanmarks Nationalbank / Finanstilsynet
Leading payment methods
Cards (Dankort)MobilePayA2ABNPL
E-commerce shares
Cards · 45%Wallets · 30%Account-to-account · 10%Buy now, pay later · 8%Other · 7%
MobilePay. Launched by Danske Bank in 2013 and used by more than 90% of Danish adults. P2P, online shopping, and in-store payments. Now part of the Vipps MobilePay group.
Adults using MobilePay>90 %
In-store cash share≈10% of transactions (Nationalbank)
The Dankort, a domestic scheme co-badged with Visa, remains the national card of reference. With Sweden and Norway, Denmark is one of the world’s three most cashless societies.
IBAN · Denmark
18 charactersSEPA area6,947 bank codes611 BIC codes
- Total length
- 18 characters
- Bank code position
- 5–8
- BBAN structure
4!n9!n1!n
Structurally valid example
DKcountry code50check digits0040bank0440116243account
DK50 0040 0440 1162 43
Learn about this market. The guides and courses that cover it.
Merchant, acquirer, PSPPayment regulationCentral banks and payment infrastructuresAgents, distributors, and banking-as-a-service: who is liable for whatPayments in the BalkansPayments in the Baltics and FinlandAccepting payments in Germany, Austria, and SwitzerlandAccepting payments in Spain and PortugalChoosing a jurisdiction for your payment institutionAccepting payments in the Netherlands and BelgiumAccepting payments in the NordicsAccepting payments in Poland and Central Europe
Card schemes
Instant payments
StraksclearingDiscontinuedDenmark was one of the first countries in the world to make instant payments universal, 10 years before the EU mandate. Its replacement by TIPS is a textbook migration to a central bank platform.Mastercard Payment Services / Finance Denmark (Finance Denmark owned the system. Nets ran it until operations passed to Mastercard Payment Services, after Mastercard’s acquisition of Nets’ clearing and instant payments business closed on March 5, 2021.) · since 2014Denmark’s first instant payment system, replaced by TIPS-DKK in April 2025 (Norges Bank, Dec. 2025)
TIPS-DKKThe first non-euro currency settled on TIPS. It replaced Denmark’s Straksclearing and serves as the model for Danish-Swedish cooperation on cross-currency instant payments.Danmarks Nationalbank, Eurosystem platform · since 2025Migration completed at Easter 2025 (Norges Bank, “Payments in the Nordics,” Dec. 2025)
Clearing and settlement
BetalingsserviceDenmark’s domestic direct debit, very different from SEPA SDD: a monthly cycle and centralized mandate management, which severely constrain subscription models.Mastercard Payment Services (formerly Nets) · since 1974Runs on a monthly cycle, unlike Avtalegiro and Autogiro (Norges Bank, Dec. 2025)
IntradagclearingDanish intraday clearing, which complements Sumclearing; both remain in place despite the arrival of TIPS-DKK.Finance Denmark (owner), Mastercard (operator)Batch system dedicated to credit transfers (Danmarks Nationalbank, 2025)
LeverandørserviceB2B equivalent of Betalingsservice, with fewer features; required for collecting payments between businesses in Denmark.Mastercard Payment Services / Finance Denmark
Sumclearing (Sumclearingen)The system that clears Dankort: Denmark’s domestic card scheme settles in central bank money, not through an international card network.Finance Denmark (owner), Mastercard (operator)Clears credit transfers, direct debits, and Dankort transactions (Danmarks Nationalbank, 2025)
Wallets
MobilePayIn stores in Denmark, MobilePay runs mostly on account-to-account rails, while in e-commerce it runs on card rails. The distinction is essential for cost modeling.Vipps MobilePay AS · since 201312.4 million users and 580,000 points of sale across Vipps MobilePay at the end of 2025; about 2.8 million users for MobilePay Finland (Vipps MobilePay annual report 2024/2025); contactless payments launched in Denmark on November 20, 2025
Other
Kronos2DiscontinuedThe Danish krone RTGS, replaced by TARGET Services: Danish krone payments now settle on a platform operated by the Eurosystem.Danmarks Nationalbank · since 2018Migration to T2 completed over Easter 2025 (Norges Bank, Dec. 2025)
MitIDDenmark’s national digital ID, which succeeded NemID in late 2021. It is used both to log in to government services and to approve transfers in online banking. Like BankID in Norway and Sweden, it is the strong authentication prerequisite for most Danish payments.Digitaliseringsstyrelsen / Finans Danmark (platform co-owned by the Danish Agency for Digital Government and Finance Denmark (the Danish banking association); development and operation were contracted to Nets, a business since taken over by IN Groupe) · since 2021