P27 – New Nordic payments platform

The P27 project is a shared, modern platform for payments within the Nordic region.
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The P27 initiative shifts focus

As a consequence of changed market conditions, P27 has withdrawn its Nordic clearing applications.

The need to modernise local Swedish payments remains. In order to secure and transform the Swedish payment infrastructure, P27 and Bankgirot has started a new joint project.

In the meantime, Bankgirot continues to provide secure Swedish payments.

The new project will benefit from P27 experiences, for example, file communication based on the Nordic interpretation of the ISO 20022 standard.

Information on the project plans will be communicated as soon as they have been established.

For more information, please visit P27 Nordic Payments

Questions and answers about P27

  • The preconditions have greatly changed, for example, the Danish banks decided not to use P27 for clearing of DKK.

  • P27’s focus has shifted from a Nordic scope to securing and transforming the current payment infrastructure in Sweden. To that end, P27 and Bankgirot have started a new joint project.

  • The current systems will continue to operate as usual.

  • The Swedish payment system needs modernisation, and the objective of efficient local payments remains.

  • No! The ISO standard brings many benefits and will be used also in the future system.

  • The end-date has not been decided yet. 

  • The format standard which will be used, which is becoming increasingly dominant internationally as well, is called ISO 20022. This standard will gradually replace the existing formats, and may be used for payments within Sweden, as well as for cross-border payments.

  • Handelsbanken stopped receiving LB files on 31 March 2022. This format is replaced by ISO pain.001.

  • When sending payment files in the format pain.001, performed payments are reported in the format camt.054 debit, not LB Åter.

    Detailed payment information is also included in the camt.053 extended account statement.

  • Handelsbanken stopped receiving KI files on 30 April 2022. This format is replaced by ISO pain.001.

  • You will need to establish communications with each bank, or go via a service agency, e.g. Pagero, which will collect the files and send them to the accounting firm.

  • Yes, you can.

  • All types of payments, including cross-border payments outside the Nordic region, can be carried out in the pain.001. file format.

  • All incoming cross-border payments will be reported in the same file (camt.054 credit, camt.053, camt.053 extended).

  • You can still have the Bankgiro number as the beneficiary account.

  • UTLI and SISU will be replaced by the pain.001 file format, which can be used for all payments, including all cross-border payments.

  • No, no new agreements/mandates will be required. All you have to do is to test the new file format.

  • No new agreements or mandates will be required. Before you can open up the Payments/Salaries [pain.001] alternative, a test file must be approved. To do this, go to File management and Administrate/Test file, and send a file. The received file will be checked, and the results can be found in Search for files/Files sent. A test report will show possible errors regarding the format or included payments. Once the errors have been corrected at source, you can redo the test an unlimited number of times. When your test file has been approved, you can start sending payment files in the new format.

  • You will need the employee's account number, and any file payments must be sent using the pain.001 file format. The account number can be in either Swedish or IBAN account format.

    The pain.001 file includes the name of the recipient. The mandates controlling access to this information might need to be revised.

  • The monitoring and netting of credit invoices must be handled by the business system before the payment is created. You can only offset to the extent that the payment states a positive amount. The references for the incoming debit and credit invoices can be sent together with the payment.

  • When using the file format pain.001, it is not possible to send individual credit invoices to the bank. To facilitate the client’s processes, we recommend that the client takes over the management of credit invoices in conjunction with the implementation of pain.001, including credit invoices already sent to the bank. 

  • Before you send the file, you should check that it is correct in terms of format, i.e. ‘schema validation’. This is done via an XML validator (separate software). To support this check, the Bank provides XSD schemas on our web pages about schema: Validation against schema Opens in a new window. If the file passes this test, you can also check that the content complies with the rules by testing the file in Online Banking under File management/Administrate/Test file.

  • Handelsbanken will continue to deliver these files. End-date for the file format is not yet decided. The format will be replaced by ISO camt.054 credit.

  • All implementation guides will follow the NPC regulations, but there are likely to be some differences. Handelsbanken’s implementation guides for ISO 20022 can be found via the .
  • You will need to establish separate file communications with each bank. Some system providers/service agencies may be able to offer a multi-bank solution.

  • The easiest solution is to use the Send File and Receive File functions in Online Banking. If you wish to automate transfers, direct communication between your company and the Bank’s computers can be set up, i.e. a host-to-host solution. The easiest way of ensuring a future-proof file management system is to select a business system that communicates with Handelsbanken via the Bankintegration service. This solution is easy to link up to, and this will automate your payment procedures.

    Bankintegration Opens in a new window (Bank integration, in Swedish only)

  • Yes, OCR is an approved structured reference. However, if OCR is used, it is important that the sender enters the correct reference, otherwise the payment will be rejected. 

  • There are players in the market that can provide file conversion services between the old formats and the ISO formats. One of them is, for example, Pagero Opens in a new window.

  • Please send your question to p27@handelsbanken.se