2022年3月14日

这些国家可能面积不大，人口都不到600万，但挪威、丹麦和芬兰等北欧地区的国家在创新方面处于全球领先地位，拥有一些世界上最先进的银行基础设施。该地区的银行在这一技术发展中发挥了主导作用。几十年来，它们在现代清算和结算系统以及银行支持的移动钱包、数字银行id和支付基础设施等各种项目上投入了大量资金。从那时起，坚实的基础设施和支付轨道使像Lunar这样的金融科技公司很容易在该地区迅速扩张。该公司创始人兼首席执行官Ken Villum Klausen在最近的一次采访中告诉PYMNTS:“当我们在2015年启动这项业务时，北欧地区的手机银行使用率已经超过90%，(这使我们比)其他正在欧洲其他地区开展业务的竞争对手银行有优势。”如今，这家丹麦金融科技公司已经成长为一家地区重量级公司，在丹麦、瑞典和挪威拥有超过50万客户，最近完成了7600万美元(7000万欧元)的融资，使其D轮融资总额达到3.06亿美元(2.8亿欧元)。尽管这家斯堪的纳维亚公司拥有银行执照，提供存款和账户服务，并能够在丹麦将自己打造成一家挑战者银行——而大多数消费者已经在使用当地领先的移动支付提供商MobilePay提供的数字银行服务——克劳森表示，他们在银行服务之外还有更大的野心。他说:“我们并不认为自己是一家银行。”“我们认为自己在更多地是在为所有钱打造一个互动平台——在这个平台上，你可以进行业务的所有方面，无论是储蓄或账户，还是支付或进入加密货币领域，或股票交易，甚至(B2B)支付。”去年10月，该公司收购了支付平台Paylike，允许Lunar的企业客户直接接受电子商务支付，为企业家和其电子商务中小企业(SMBs)推出一键付款。克劳森说，从那以后，50%的丹麦新成立的企业申请了Lunar账户，这表明该解决方案在企业和客户中越来越受欢迎。 “That’s an advantage of being in a smaller territory, we can scale equally on both sides [B2C and B2B] and then we can connect the two with beneficial USPs [unique selling points] on both sides of the table. That’s really the long-term plan for the Lunar flywheel,” Klausen added. Crypto, Competing With Incumbents As part of its expansion plans, the Danish firm recently launched a cryptocurrency platform to tap into the growing popularity of digital currency among consumers in the region. “If we go to the app stores, iOS and Android, and look at the most popular apps in the finance category, a lot of those apps are crypto platforms from outside the Nordics, [and] people living [there] are tapping into those platforms because they want to get into crypto,” Klausen noted. However, despite cryptocurrency becoming more and more mainstream across the region, Nordic banks do not allow customers to transfer proceeds from crypto platforms into their banking accounts, given the lack of transparency and clarity surrounding the origin of funds and tax payments. It’s the reason why Klausen said they’ve built a platform within the Lunar app where users can buy, hold and sell cryptocurrencies, giving Lunar full control of know your customer (KYC) checks and transaction monitoring as users’ funds are floating in and out of the crypto platform. “In many ways, it’s a great example of Lunar being at the intersection of the old world of finance and the new world [and] solving a massive problem for users, and that is to invest in crypto if you have the appetite for it, but also being able to swap money back to fiat or just use them on your card,” he explained. Moving forward, Klausen said they feel they’ve just scratched the surface given the “massive opportunities” in payments, investment banking and cryptocurrency across the region, including in Finland, which is why they’ll be focusing on regional expansion for now before considering opportunities beyond the Nordics. And with incumbents constantly dominating the banking space in the region, Lunar will have to up its game to compete effectively. “If we look at it on a long-term perspective, I believe that we are competing in probably the most fiercest financial services landscape in the world, where the incumbents are really doing a great job, [and] that means that Lunar needs to be above everybody else to compete with those incumbent [banks],” Klausen said. Sign up here for daily updates on all of PYMNTS’ Europe, Middle East and Africa (EMEA) coverage. ——————————