MobilePay could soon start charging its customers

Payments to businesses would most likely remain free, but premium accounts would be required to share costs with friends

Ben Hamilton

Apr 13, 2023

MobilePay may soon start charging its customers, according to a report in today’s Børsen.

Claus Bunkenborg, the head of Mobilepay in Denmark, told the financial newspaper that an overhaul is being seriously considered following a loss of 342 million kroner for 2022, with another big deficit expected this year.

“Of course we are thinking about it, but it is something that will probably hurt some users in the short term anyway,” said Bunkenborg.

According to 2022 figures, Mobilepay has upwards of 4.43 million registered users carrying out over 400 million transactions a year in Denmark, plus a further 2 million-plus subscribers in Finland.

Some services likely to remain free
However, Bunkenborg told Børsen it was unlikely Mobilepay would charge all its customers.

Private transfers – for example, between friends settling a restaurant bill – are far more expensive to facilitate than transfers to businesses, and it is thought Mobilepay will most likely adopt an approach similar to Spotify in which some services remain free.

Since launching in 2013 in collaboration with Danske Bank, Mobilepay has become extremely popular with people in Denmark, who tend to vastly prefer the service to other options, such as Apple Pay.

However, its app WeShare, which enabled households and businesses to share costs, proved less popular and ended up closing down in February.

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