Norway

Cards dominate in Norwegian shops, and mobile payments are rising fast. Phones, watches or wristbands were used for 27% of payments at card terminals in 2025, up from 12% in 2024, and only 5% of card payments involved inserting the card. BankAxept, the national debit scheme, handled 70% of terminal payments in 2025 (74% in 2024); 62% of cards combine BankAxept with an international debit card, and BankAxept now works in Apple Pay and Vipps NFC at many banks. Norges Bank’s spring 2026 survey found 3% of point-of-sale payments were in cash. Staffed shops must accept cash for purchases up to NOK 20,000.

Norges Bank data show online payments with Norwegian cards rose 12% in number and 15% in value in 2025, to 940 million payments and NOK 438 billion; online accounted for 28% of all Norwegian card payments by number and 33% by value. Norwegian online retailers received 64% of online card payments, and card payments to foreign websites grew from 306 million in 2024 to 334 million in 2025, so cross-border shopping is substantial. Some of this growth is in-store app payments such as Coopay and Trumf Pay, which are recorded as online transactions. Foreign sellers of low-value goods (under NOK 3,000 per item) to Norwegian consumers must collect Norwegian VAT through the VOEC scheme.

Norway is outside the EU but applies EU financial rules through the EEA. Finanstilsynet, the Financial Supervisory Authority of Norway, authorises and supervises payment and e-money institutions; PSD2 entered Norwegian law on 1 April 2019. Norges Bank oversees the payment system. Under the Financial Contracts Act, as amended from 1 October 2024, staffed sales premises must accept cash for purchases up to NOK 20,000, with infringement fines from 1 May 2025. Online gambling is restricted to state-authorised operators such as Norsk Tipping and Norsk Rikstoto, and Norwegian banks must block card transactions to unlicensed gambling operators, a rule enforced by the Norwegian Gaming Authority (Lotteritilsynet).

Banking is near-universal in Norway. According to the World Bank Global Findex, 98.6% of adults had an account in 2024 and 96.0% owned a debit card; in 2021, 66.7% owned a credit card. Norwegians used their cards 595 times per person in 2025, one of the highest rates in the world according to Norges Bank. Since October 2024 the law has also guaranteed the right to pay with cash in staffed shops, which keeps in-person payment open to people who do not use digital methods.