Lunar and TrueLayer forge strategic partnership to revolutionise Nordic payments landscape

Nordic challenger bank Lunar is joining forces with TrueLayer, Europe’s leading open banking payments network, to redefine the payments landscape across Denmark, Sweden and Norway. This collaboration will enhance TrueLayer’s instant payment capabilities in the Nordics through seamless integration with Lunar’s payment infrastructure.

Following strong demand from both national and international payment players, Lunar opened its Nordic payment infrastructure to partners in June 2023. By partnering with Lunar, TrueLayer will be able to access domestic payments across three markets in the Nordics, providing payment coverage across Denmark, Sweden and Norway. TrueLayer becomes the inaugural major partner to leverage Lunar’s Banking Services. This collaboration not only sets the stage for innovation and competition in the region, but also positions TrueLayer as a payments pioneer, covering the entire Nordic region.

“In many ways the Nordics is a difficult region to enter for international banks and fintechs. By opening our infrastructure to partners we unlock a highly complex banking environment and enable more banks and fintechs to do business in the Nordics. Our technology and banking service offering accelerates innovation and competition in the region as we enable some of the most innovative powerhouses to enter the Nordics and compete with local incumbents”, says Ken Villum Klausen, co-founder and CEO of Lunar.

“Truelayer will extend its instant account-to-account capabilities to the Nordics, empowering merchants to offer enhanced payment experiences to their consumers.Through this partnership with Lunar, we will help resolve access barriers for international merchants in Nordic markets, tapping into the region’s digitally-forward consumer base”, says Paiak Vaid, VP of Global Partnerships at TrueLayer.

“We have invested massively in our banking and payment infrastructure to be able to deliver the best everyday banking experience to our Nordic users. The interest we’re currently experiencing from the market shows that we have a compelling business opportunity in front of us, as we open the Nordics to the rest of the world. It will benefit both businesses and consumers, and our society at large, that the Nordics is now accessible for many more businesses globally”, added Ken Villum Klausen. 

Lunar’s cloud-based banking infrastructure and API solution extends Lunar’s business to include Banking Services. Lunar is one of few banks with Nordic banking infrastructure and clearing permits in Denmark, Norway and Sweden thereby able to offer access to cross border payments and clearing in the Nordics to third parties.