After 12 years in Germany, I had the opportunity to start a new job in Denmark. It’s a neighbour country to Germany, so big deal, how different can it be… Well in context of digital economy, Germany and Denmark are not just different, they are night and day. In Germany I once had to leave my wife behind in a restaurant, since they only took cash, and I had to go out and find the nearest ATM (she remembers that one quite well). In Denmark, I have not touched cash money for years. When I bought my car in Denmark, I was handed the keys, and “have a nice day”. “Excuse me, what about the registration papers that prove I’m the owner?” Well, you get them in the mail within 2 weeks. Denmark’s society is build on trust, and that’s not only words, believe me.
About the car, I could look up the details online the same day (www.tjekbil.dk), not the owner of course. For that, you login to DMR (motorregister.skat.dk), where you find all details about your car registration. Don’t worry about losing those papers, because you don’t have to have them with you when driving in Denmark. Always fun to search for vanity plates online: FRANK and FRANKIE are taken, but FRANKY is free, that will cost me 9180+200 DKK, about 1250 Euro (motorst.dk/en-us/individuals/number-plates-for-individuals/ordering-number-plates).
Since everything is online, you might think my password manager is filling up quickly. Nope, not at all, since all government and most private companies use your digital ID (MitID) for authentication. You sort of login by showing your passport, very handy. This only works, when every citizen has an unique id (CPR number), something that’s impossible in Germany, for historical reasons. In line with that, everyone has a personal online mailbox for communication from the government, but also from your private insurance company, your bank or your community. Even my salary slip ends up there.
But, how do I pay 50 DKK to a private person on a second hand market for example? Without sharing my bank account details? Paypal would be one option, but you need to share your email address and have an account with them. Also PayPal has some requirements on private versus commercial use. In Denmark, we use MobilePay. With a simple signup, you connect your mobile number with your bank account and payment card. That’s it. You use it to pay to individuals but just as easy to companies. So there is trust in the mobile number, and I’m quite sure, the government has some requirements for mobile operators. And the system is location aware, so it shows me private point of sale close by. The downside: MobilePay is for residents only, since you have to have a CPR number.
Once we were visiting a famous second hand and antique market. But on that specific day, the entrance was not free, so we were stopped when driving up to the entrance and asked to pay 20 DKK per person. I started MobilePay on my mobile phone, and it already proposed the market as payment receiver. I type in 40 DKK, authenticate with fingerprint, and show the resulting screen to the person at the gate: “Many thanks, and have a nice day”. Could I have used a fake application? Sure, but remember trust?
My favourite is the automatic payment service (Betalingsservice). With that service, you set up automatic payments for rent, utilities, insurance etc. In Germany, you have to sign a document to give the organisation the right to withdraw money from your account. And the same process applies when you want to revoke that right. In Denmark, you are in complete control regarding automatic payments. The codes needed to sign up are on the first bill you receive, so your second bill gets payed automatically. Paying that first bill is made easier by using a machine readable code (with checksum) that your banking app can read and process. And the Betalingsservice app shows you past and upcoming payments. My banking app shows that info as well, it’s all a big web of API’s.
Before AI, Fintech was the hot thing. What’s that, “Fintech”? Well just move to Denmark and you will find out…