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

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 exactly a goldmine in itself

We also get into the juicy stuff:

.- NFC and the battle with Apple (and how Vipps became the first to break into iPhone tap-to-pay outside Apple Wallet)

.- Why they’re not trying to convert Apple Pay users but instead going after your mom who still taps plastic

.- The subtle art of turning a payments app into something closer to a “lifestyle platform” (super app, but we’re not calling it that… yet)

And of course, no Fintech Daydreaming episode would be complete without:

.- A deeply philosophical discussion on whether the digital euro is a “solution looking for a problem” or a “problem looking for a solution”

.- A buffet of topics we didn’t have time for (interoperability, we’re coming back for you)

Oh - and the jokes. They’re bad. Impressively bad. Almost… on brand.

Episode hosted by Pål Krogdahl & Ville Sointu

Episode produced and edited by Fintech Daydreaming

- Email us on Hello@FintechDaydreaming.com

- Fintech Daydreaming home page - https://www.FintechDaydreaming.com

- Fintech Daydreaming on LinkedIn - https://www.linkedin.com/company/fintech-daydreaming

- Pål Krogdahl - https://www.linkedin.com/in/krogdahl/

- Ville Sointu - https://www.linkedin.com/in/ville-sointu-54682b/