Sweden has become one of the most cashless countries in the world. Customers pay with cards, Swish, or digital wallets, and they expect every checkout experience to be instant, secure, and simple. Choosing the right payment company (betalningsföretag) keeps Swedish businesses competitive.

A modern payment company helps businesses meet customers’ high expectations. It also helps them automate accounting, meet the requirements of the revised Payment Services Directive (PSD2) and BankID security, and expand across the Nordic countries or into global markets without having to rebuild their systems.

Below, we’ll discuss what every Swedish business should know before it chooses a payment company, including how these systems work, what aspects to compare, and how they can support long-term growth.

What’s in this article?

• What is a payment company and how does it work?
  
• How do Swedish businesses benefit from using a payment company?
  
• What role does payment automation play in growth?
  
• How do Swedish businesses choose the right payment company?
  
• What types of payment solutions fit different Swedish businesses?
  
• How secure and regulated are payment companies in Sweden?
  
• What are the costs associated with using a payment company in Sweden?
  
• How Stripe Payments can help
  

What is a payment company and how does it work?

A payment company, sometimes called a payments service provider, routes payments through the correct financial networks, confirms there’s enough money in the customer’s account, encrypts and secures sensitive data, and moves the funds to your business account.

In Sweden, where cash payments are rare, payment companies have become central to almost every kind of business. Only about 1 in 10 in-store purchases are made with cash. All other customers are paying with cards, phones, or instant transfers through services such as Swish.

Without the infrastructure of a payment company, a business would have to build and maintain direct connections with banks, card networks, and security systems—a nearly impossible task for many companies.

How do Swedish businesses benefit from using a payment company?

Running a business in Sweden means operating in a highly digital economy. Customers expect speed, security, and choice, and they rarely carry cash. A strong payment partner helps Swedish companies meet those expectations and keep operations lean and primed for growth.

Here are the benefits of choosing a modern payment partner for your business.

Meet customer expectations

Swedes have generally come to expect multiple payment options at checkout. Swish is accepted by about 70% of retailers, while card payments remain almost universal. In 2024, over half of customers said they’d use their mobile phones to pay in-store if possible. Buy now, pay later (BNPL) and invoice payments are also common for ecommerce transactions. If a business doesn’t offer the payment method a customer prefers, they might leave for a business that does. A competitive payment company guarantees the right combination in-store, online, and on mobile.

Boost efficiency and reduce risk

Payments affect accounting, customer support, security, and compliance. A good payment partner automates this work by encrypting data, enforcing PSD2 and BankID authentication, monitoring for fraud, and keeping your business compliant with the regulatory standards of the Financial Supervisory Authority (Finansinspektionen). The result is a reliable checkout and fewer manual tasks behind the scenes.

Build a foundation for growth

Businesses in Sweden are designed for global reach. A payment partner lets you expand internationally by handling new currencies, cross-border transactions, and rising volumes as demand grows.

What role does payment automation play in growth?

In Sweden, automation turns an efficient checkout into a self-running financial system, with a host of benefits.

Here’s how payment automation helps businesses grow:

• Save time and minimize errors: With automation, you can generate invoices, send safe payment links, and match incoming Swish, card, and invoice payments to the right customer or project in real time.

• Improve cash flow: If a customer’s card expires or a payment bounces, automated retry logic and reminders can recover the revenue without manual follow-up. This keeps money moving.

• Scale with less friction: Whether you’re adding new products or entering Denmark, Finland, or Germany, automation manages regional differences and currency handling for you. This removes much of the burden associated with expansion.

How do Swedish businesses choose the right payment company?

The best payment company for your business matches how your customers pay, how your business runs, and where you’re headed next.

Here’s what to focus on when you’re choosing a payment partner:

• Integration and fitting user experience: Whether you sell through Shopify, WooCommerce, or a custom storefront, integration should be straightforward and intuitive. If you don’t have a technical team, look for prebuilt plug-ins or hosted checkout pages fine-tuned for Swedish shoppers and mobile devices. If you have developers, prioritize clean application programming interfaces (APIs), good documentation, and the freedom to design your own checkout.

• Scalability: Your provider should handle higher volumes and global expansion without slowing you down. If a platform struggles with large transaction peaks or doesn’t support multicurrency payments, it’ll eventually slow your growth.

• Reliable support and uptime: Choose a partner known for reliability and responsive support, ideally available in both English and Swedish. Look for published uptime metrics or a service status page. A great payment partner is invisible when everything works and instantly available if it doesn’t.

What types of payment solutions fit different Swedish businesses?

Every business in Sweden accepts payments in a different way. The right setup depends less on size and more on how and where you sell.

Here are some business categories and the main types of payment solutions they use.

Ecommerce businesses

Online retailers benefit from providing a broad range of payment methods such as cards, Swish, and invoice or BNPL options. Focus on refinement for mobile, since many Swedes shop from their phones. If you run subscriptions or memberships, you’ll also need reliable recurring payments. Automating value-added tax (VAT) handling and invoice creation can considerably lighten the accounting workload.

Brick-and-mortar or hybrid retailers

Shops, cafés, and pop-ups should accept Tap to Pay cards, digital wallets, and Swish QR codes, ideally across both fixed and portable terminals. When your in-store transactions and online system are synced, you gain a unified view of inventory, sales, and payouts, which makes everyday operations easier to manage.

Platforms and marketplaces

Marketplaces require more specialized tools to split payments between multiple parties, automate onboarding and verification for sellers, schedule payouts, and stay compliant with Swedish tax and Anti-Money Laundering (AML) rules.

Service-based and B2B businesses

If you run a consultancy, trade business, or other B2B company, digital invoicing is important. Sending invoices with built-in “Pay now” options and supporting both cards and bank transfers simplifies payments for clients. Automating reminders and reconciliation helps maintain a steady cash flow.

How secure and regulated are payment companies in Sweden?

Any company that handles payments in Sweden operates under some of the strictest financial and regulatory standards in Europe, shaped by Swedish and EU laws.

Here’s what makes payment companies in Sweden so secure:

• Regulation and oversight: All payment providers in Sweden are regulated by Finansinspektionen. To operate, they must be licensed and regularly audited to prove that customer funds, data handling, and risk management all meet strict criteria. Every provider must comply with PSD2’s Strong Customer Authentication (SCA) requirement, which means customers must verify their identities, often using BankID for online transactions.

• Security in practice: Reputable payment companies encrypt and store sensitive card data and never expose full payment details to businesses. The best ones are Level 1 certified for the Payment Card Industry Data Security Standard (PCI DSS), the highest global standard for handling card information. They also use fraud detection systems powered by real-time data. These tools can flag unusual activity and automatically block it without stopping legitimate payments. This constant, invisible risk management protects the business and the customer.

• Reliability and uptime: Payment systems have to work. Established providers run redundant infrastructure across multiple data centers to guarantee nearly perfect uptime. If one server fails, transactions instantly reroute to another, keeping checkouts live even during traffic surges or outages.

What are the costs associated with using a payment company in Sweden?

In Sweden, where digital transactions are prevalent, providers often price their services in straightforward, transparent ways—typically on a per-transaction basis rather than through monthly contracts.

Many payment companies charge a small percentage of each transaction, plus a fixed fee.

The rate can vary based on:

• The type of payment method (e.g., card, Swish, bank transfer)

• Where the card is issued (Sweden, elsewhere in the EU, or outside Europe)

• Your transaction volume and average order size

Card payments, for example, often incur a fee that’s a percentage of the sale, while Swish tends to charge a low flat fee per transaction since it’s a direct bank transfer.

Some providers add optional fees for features such as instant payouts, chargeback handling, and currency conversion. Others charge reduced rates for higher volumes or long-term agreements.

Even so, hidden costs such as inadequate fraud prevention, unreliable uptime, and slow settlements can decrease margins.

A good payment company in Sweden should show:

• Fees per payment method

• Any extra costs for cross-border or multicurrency transactions

• Payout schedules and any fees for faster settlement

When it’s easy to find this information, you can calculate your effective cost per sale and decide whether the value matches what you’re getting in reliability, flexibility, and features. Paying a fair rate for fast, secure, and flexible payments typically generates more revenue than it costs.

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