Tap, Merge, Repeat! with Baard Slaattelid from Vipps MobilePay

About this episode

Baard Slaattelid from Vipps MobilePay discusses the evolution of mobile payments and the challenges of merging platforms.

In this episode of Fintech Daydreaming, Ville and Pål are joined by Baard Slaattelid from Vipps MobilePay - a man who casually drops phrases like “closed-loop wallet,” “payment potato,” and “we accidentally enabled cross-border in five minutes” like it’s just another Tuesday in payments. We start where all great fintech podcasts begin: with bad jokes (courtesy of AI, no less), and a host who may or may not be running on too much travel and too little sleep. Baard takes us through the origin story of Vipps MobilePay featuring real-time competitive panic, strategic acquisitions, and the realization that maybe having three identical payment apps in a region of 27 million people isn’t a long-term strategy. Who knew? From there, we dive into: .- What a “wallet” actually means (spoiler: it’s not just a pretty UI on top of your bank account) .- How Vipps MobilePay ended up with 12.5 million users across the Nordics .- The surprisingly brutal reality of merging two platforms (hint: stop doing “fun stuff” for a year) .- Why Danes thought that the new app was worse and why that might just be human nature .- The economics of payments (or lack thereof), including why tapping your phone isn’t…

People in this episode

Hosts: Pål Krogdahl, Ville Sointu

Guest: Baard Slaattelid

Topics covered

• payment systems
• mobile payments
• fintech innovation
• user experience
• platform merging
• NFC technology

Keywords

• closed-loop wallet
• payment potato
• cross-border payments
• NFC
• Apple Pay
• user acquisition
• payment economics

Mentioned in this episode

Organizations: Vipps MobilePay, Apple

Places: Nordics, Denmark

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