- Andreas Hagen
We are well on our way to becoming a fully digitalised society yet insist on holding on to our physical wallets filled with various plastic cards. Even as digital wallets have matured, grown more secure, and become easier to use, their adoption still has much room to spare. Ironically, many people continue to carry a cardholder attached to the very device that could (and probably will) eliminate the need for cards altogether: their phone.
The decline of cash is only gaining momentum, and in the Nordics, carrying cold hard cash is increasingly rare. Some might even consider it strange. But just as we have moved away from cash to cards, the next step should already be obvious: the move away from physical cards and wallets to digital cards and wallets.
A brief look at the history of digital wallets
Digital wallets are not new. The concept can be traced back to the early 2000s, when online payment systems like PayPal laid the foundation for digital payments. Google Wallet launched in 2011, followed by Apple Pay in 2014, and Samsung Pay shortly after. Initially, these services were limited in functionality, lacked merchant acceptance, and required manual input of card details. Over time, integration with banks, retailers, and card networks significantly improved.
Today, digital wallets are deeply integrated into our daily lives, through phones, watches, and other wearable tech. However, old habits die hard, and many users remain on the fence despite the maturity of the technology.
The human resistance to change
A significant reason people hesitate to switch is psychological. Cards feel tangible, familiar, and “real”. Even when a digital solution is demonstrably better, we default back to what is familiar to us. Why change what works?
Many also underestimate the effort involved in transitioning to a digital-first approach, especially if the onboarding process feels tedious already. Traditionally, to digitise a card, users would first have to find their physical card, manually input the lengthy details, and then complete an authentication process to boot. This whole process is tedious and inconvenient, and hardly the seamless user experience it should be, which in turn further increases the resistance to change.
Seamless onboarding via push provisioning
Perhaps a term that is tough to digest by itself, but through technology known as push provisioning, the issuer can streamline the process to seamlessly add a card to a digital wallet. In our case at DNB, our customers can simply select their card in the online bank channels and add it to their favourite supported wallet. The customer simply approves the request to do so, and the card is tokenised, creating a digital version of your card, in seconds. This means that you could be standing in queue at the grocery store and activate your card in a digital wallet, without ever opening your physical one.
Push provisioning, unlike manual entry of card details, reduces the number and complexity of actions a user needs to do, which in turn increases adoption of the service. It allows issuers like DNB to offer a fully digital journey, removing friction and making digital wallets more accessible to everyone.
Equally interesting is the potential of using pull provisioning to achieve a similar effect. Digital wallets themselves can through pull provisioning directly request the card details from the issuer. Of course, only with the customer’s consent and approval through an authentication process. This evolution will further reduce the customer friction all while maintaining high security standards.
Digital is better than physical
Security is arguably the strongest argument for digital wallets. A physical card can be lost, stolen, or cloned. But a tokenised card in a digital wallet cannot be physically lost, and by using a tokenised card, your real card details are never shared with merchants. Instead, a unique digital token is used for each transaction.
“The best way to protect against data breaches is not store card data at all.” – PCI Security Standards Council
Digital wallets enforce strong authentication by default, often through biometrics or device PINs. This makes unauthorized usage significantly more difficult than with physical cards. In addition, digital wallets are more resilient. Lose your wallet or physical card while traveling? A replacement may take days, or longer, but with digital wallets, you can receive and activate a new card instantly, even if you reported your physical card as lost.
Convenience is also a strong argument; just imagine you forget your wallet but have your phone. In just moments, your digital card is ready for use, allowing you to pay securely without having to feel embarrassed because you only just realised you cannot pay for your goods or services. And as mentioned, in travel scenarios this convenience could mean the difference between a ruined holiday or one free from stress and worry.
DNB’s ability to move mountains
When DNB launched Apple Pay, one of Apple's requirements was to support push provisioning. The reasoning behind this was quite clear to us: simplify the onboarding experience and remove friction for customer adoption. We managed to deliver on this requirement and others. This was made possible through the combined effort of a wide team of commendable professionals within DNB, alongside our partners and collaborators. Not only this, but also delivering on the promise DNB officially made, to launch Apple Pay for our 2.4 million customers before the end of 2024.
Delivering on that promise, however, was easier said than done. While the success of the launch came down to the people involved, coordinating those people across a large organisation like DNB brought its own challenges.
Although some key personnel were aware of Apple Pay being a possibility in early 2024, most employees weren’t aware of how quickly this would follow. Not until Apple officially agreed to open access to their NFC-chip the same summer. On that day, DNB executive management announced the goal to release Apple Pay in a press release, and the stage was set. Of course, this all happened while many were away on summer holiday, meaning those who hadn’t checked their email from the beach had quite a surprise waiting for them upon their return.
Despite that timing, preparations were already underway. Some colleagues came back from a relaxing break, blissfully unaware, only to find a mountain of work waiting. But even with the pressure and tight timelines, most implementations like this take at least six months. We had four, and things started off surprisingly well. Teams from across the organisation, each with different roles, backgrounds, and responsibilities, were quickly pulled into the vortex of planning the path ahead. It soon became clear though, that traditional project structures wouldn’t suffice if we were to make it in time.
The key difference to ensure the delivery was bringing everyone into the same room, literally speaking. By co-locating engineers, designers, business owners, testers, and others, we were able to replace delayed feedback and slower task completion times with real-time communication and immediate problem-solving. We let agile teams operate with autonomy, while holding team leads accountable for continued cross-functional alignment and information transparency through daily updates for all teams involved.
Overall, this reduced the time it took to complete tasks and reach our milestones, allowing us to adapt on the spot with ease. Another factor was priority. A project of this scale and public interest received unusually high internal prioritisation compared to most other projects at DNB, enabling faster approvals, swifter unblocking of problems, and general fast-track handling where needed.
Ultimately, it was the combined effort of many dedicated individuals that made the promised launch possible. We couldn’t have done it without everyone pulling in the same direction, united under the same goal. One of DNB’s core values is “one team”, and this launch is evidence that we can move mountains, especially when it matters most.
“Why don’t you use Apple Pay, Mum?”
– Overheard at a local grocery store
Having been personally involved in this journey, I would also like to share a small anecdote that occurred sometime in the months after DNB’s launch of Apple Pay.
Standing in the queue at the local grocery store, I see a mother and a daughter buying their groceries. The mother opening her purse, looking for her wallet, looking for her card, finally paying, then proceeding to pack her groceries. I am next in line, I start packing as the groceries come down the conveyer belt and by the time it’s time to pay, I pull my phone out and before much else happens, I’m done. As I leave the store just before the mother and daughter, I smile a bit to myself as I hear the daughter ask her mother: “why don’t you use Apple Pay, Mum?”. She simply replied that she couldn’t be bothered.
I’ve been thinking about it since then. Why not? And how many of you are there out there? If not now, when?
Apple Pay and beyond
Of course, digital wallets are not limited to one ecosystem. Vipps launched their Tap to Pay (Tæpp), supporting both iOS and Android. Google Wallet and Samsung Pay are also available to DNB customers, and support for push provisioning on these platforms is in progress. The technology is catching up and evolving, the customer habits should be next.
Meanwhile, Visa and Mastercard are developing their own tokenised online checkout solutions. This functions like a digital wallet but is tailored for online shopping. They bring the same benefits however: security, convenience, and privacy. For issuers and networks alike, the value created is mutually beneficial: reduced instances of fraud, lower costs, and improved customer trust.
Additionally, digital wallets are integrating other services as well. In the future, your wallet could carry more than payment methods. It could hold your ID, insurance, tickets, or even your car or house keys, some of these already exist today of course, but will
become more prominent as the technology evolves. Looking back at how many services and devices that have been compressed to fit into one that we carry around in our pocket, it’s no doubt that digital wallets will be more than simple payment tools.
European regulations
European regulators have long supported this progress through directives such as PSD2, and the upcoming PSD3, which further promotes open banking and secure digital payments. Tokenisation and strong customer authentication (SCA) are both being highlighted as the path forward for modern finance, ensuring that banks and fintech’s have the tools to create safe ecosystems for their customers. In the Nordics especially, the cultural openness to tech adoption has made this transformation faster than our friends further south. As more services align with global standards for provisioning, security, and interoperability, the adoption curve can only rise.
What’s next?
If we consider how much has changed in just the span of a decade, the next one is sure to be just as, if not even more, eventful. Digital wallets are here to stay, they’re not going to be just a “nice to have” feature. Eventually, they will be part of our financial infrastructure’s foundation, and this transition from physical to digital isn’t just about convenience. It is about security, resilience, and readiness for what will come next in financial innovation.
So, if you are still carrying plastic cards out of habit, consider this your invitation to leave the old wallet in the drawer with your BankID code-token. The future fits comfortably right into one of your pockets.