Here in Norway, we have the link between Komplett.no and Komplett Bank, and between the airline Norwegian and Bank Norwegian. In the global arena, the online retail giant Amazon offers a proprietary payment solution, a credit card in collaboration with a large international bank and a crowdfunding platform. Chart: BigTech is entering the financial market With their technical expertise and financial muscle, BigTech companies can potentially be catalysts for sweeping changes in the financial sector. They are able to bundle a range of services, while making use of the information customers have left behind to target their services more directly to each one.12 By offering financial services, these companies gain access to our payment histories – a very valuable commodity. And with already large customer bases, their proprietary solutions can quickly achieve widespread adoption. Unlike banks, other non-bank service providers cannot create their own financing. Financing costs may therefore be somewhat higher than for banks, especially for new participants that have not built up sufficient trust in capital markets. It is perhaps therefore not surprising that a number of participants that have started as FinTech companies have eventually obtained a banking licence. An example is Klarna, which has many users in Norway. The company has obtained a banking licence in Sweden and has the stated ambition of becoming the Ryanair of the banking industry. Also BigTech companies that offer credit services on proprietary platforms have so far done so in collaboration with existing banks, or by establishing their own banks.
We in the Executive Board will convene for our next monetary policy meeting at the start of December. At that time, we will also have to factor in the information that has been released up to then. 6/6