Providers can compete freely for customers through various apps and interfaces. Future payment infrastructure Norway was one of the first countries to modernise its payment system and still ranks at the top of international comparisons of payment system efficiency. However, some countries have caught up with us and have taken the lead in some areas. With regard to providing real-time payments, we have lagged behind our neighbours. Real-time payments, or instant payments, provide immediate payment into the recipient’s account. Instant payment is now available through the Vipps system and from many online banks. This is a positive step, but banks are still exposed to settlement risk, and the solution cannot be used for all types of payments. It is particularly problematic that the current instant payment solution is not very suitable for corporate transactions. Norges Bank has played a catalyst role in bringing about improvements. Just over two years ago, the Bank expressed the opinion that it was necessary to step up efforts to establish a real-time payments infrastructure without settlement risk. The financial industry and Norges Bank agreed on a joint initiative called BRO, Betalinger med Raskere Oppgjør [payments with faster settlement]. BRO was scheduled to be in place by the end of 2019. In February 2018, seven large Nordic banks announced their intention to establish a pan-Nordic payment infrastructure, P27. The aim is to replace existing domestic clearing and instant payment infrastructures in the Nordic countries with one common system.
According to Sweden’s central bank, the Riksbank, settlement of instant payments in SEK may be made available on the TIPS platform. If so, this would mean that at least some Swedish real-time payments will not be cleared through P27, which could affect the profitability of the project. Norges Bank is aware that the industry is also assessing other possible Norwegian solutions for better real-time payments in Norway. In its letter sent in October to Finance Norway and the P27 banks in Norway, Norges Bank called upon the banks to continue this work. The objective must 2/5  BIS central bankers' speeches  be to make the necessary adjustments to the Norwegian infrastructure as quickly as possible to give both businesses and private individuals in Norway access to modern real-time payments on a 24/7/365 basis. The technological set-up should be adapted to customers’ needs, particularly businesses, while also eliminating interbank settlement risk. As far as possible, the set-up should also be suitable for use in future solutions, such as P27, including a system for control of reserve cover at Norges Bank. Reusing a technological set-up will keep total costs down. Establishing a satisfactory Norwegian solution for instant payments will also decouple P27 work from any deadlines for the system in Norway, which in time may increase the chances of success for the P27 initiative. A common infrastructure for all payments has given Norway an important competitive advantage, provided economies of scale and facilitated interaction across the banking sector.