Two million Danes join the next wave in mobile payments as Danske Bank’s MobilePay teams up with PowaTag

This article is brought to you by Retail Technology Review: Two million Danes join the next wave in mobile payments as Danske Bank’s MobilePay teams up with PowaTag.

Denmark is leading the way to a cashless society by planning to scrap obligatory cash payments – and now two out of three smartphone users will be able to enjoy an entirely new way to shop as Danske Bank's market leading MobilePay app introduces the transformative "buy anywhere" capabilities of acclaimed mobile commerce platform PowaTag.

Over two million Danes use MobilePay, the free application from Danske Bank that enables peer to peer (P2P) money transfers and mobile purchases in-store and online. The app is the market leader in the Nordics, with over 12 billion kroner in transactions processed since launch.

The PowaTag platform adds a powerful new level of engagement to MobilePay, creating a compelling way for Danske Bank to enable instant purchases through a wide variety of different triggers. More than 1,200 companies have so far partnered with Powa, including L'Oreal USA, The Big Issue Foundation, Best Western and Miinto, and some of the world's biggest names will be rolling out this year.

Due to Powa's global reach, MobilePay users from New York to Jakarta will be able to make instant PowaTag purchases with participating brands in locations around the world – ideal for the Danes, who are the world's fourth most well-travelled people. The international mind-set extends to online shopping, with 39 per cent of Danes buying from overseas websites in the last year, and the UK as a favourite location. PowaTag enables shoppers to buy from their favourite brands online in just two taps, skipping long-winded order forms.

Mark Wraa-Hansen, Head of the MobilePay division in Danske Bank, says: "The Danish people are incredibly switched on to the huge potential of mobile payments, as demonstrated by the fact that two out of three smart phone users now use our solution. With PowaTag we can over time take MobilePay to the next level with a new set of services. The speed and convenience of PowaTag make it an ideal fit with the services that have made MobilePay so popular."

Dan Wagner, founder and CEO of Powa Technologies, says: "Integrating PowaTag's singular ability to turn any form of media into an instant point of sale will further cement Danske Bank's position at the forefront of mobile payments without compromising its decision not to charge customers."

"Instantly engaging with over two million users through one of the world's most well known retail banks is an important step as we continue to establish PowaTag as a new global standard in commerce. This partnership is a perfect example of the value PowaTag brings to banks, merchants and consumers alike."

Danske Bank is the first of many leading retail banks to integrate PowaTag into its services through Powa's software development kit (SDK), enabling MobilePay users to instantly utilise Powa's powerful transaction capabilities using details already saved to the app. The SDK enables companies to easily integrate the full PowaTag platform with their own in-house offerings to create an enhanced, scalable solution that enables banks and merchants to bring its benefits directly to their existing installed user base.