In 2026, the biggest change to Sweden’s payment infrastructure in decades will take place.
“For the first time, we can process payments digitally from start to finish—without anymanual steps and without file formats.”
— Petter Sehlin, founder of Ping Payments

Older payment solutions are being phased out and replaced by digital communication based on a common European standard. The change is taking place behind the scenes, but it affects both digital systems and day-to-day financial management in associations and civil society.

What’s being phased out
Several established solutions will be phased out in 2026:

  • Bankgirot's Infrastructure
  • BgMax and LB
  • paper payments
  • value notices

Integration solutions need to be reviewed ahead of the transition.

Why This Is Happening
The background to this change lies in a European initiative to modernize the payments market and create a common standard. By using the same technical format, both banks and digital platforms gain new opportunities to automate the exchange of information and payment flows.
This means that payments will be faster, more traceable, and linked to more data—which in turn paves the way for entirely new solutions and efficiency gains.

What's Next
The replacement system is digital and standardized, and is based on including more information with each payment so that reconciliation and checks can be automated:

  • API Communication
  • ISO 20022
  • camt.054
  • metadata
  • automated matching

This enables a new level of automation, both for incoming and outgoing payments.

How Bankgirot Is Being Replaced in Practice
As BgMax and LB are phased out, they will be replaced by ISO 20022. This means that systems need to be adapted to the new formats in order to continue sending and receiving payments. The main difference is that more information is included with each transaction, which makes it easier to match payments and gain a clearer overview within the systems. The transition may vary depending on the bank and service, but the direction is the same: more standardized, more digital, and better opportunities to automate processes that previously required manual handling.

How this affects digital systems
Systems that currently use Bankgirot need to transition to APIs and support ISO 20022. This means that integration layers, data models, and payment processing need to be adapted.
For digital platforms, this represents a technological shift—but also an opportunity to offer more modern and business-oriented features.

How This Affects Organizations
For many organizations, this change primarily means a reduction in administrative tasks. Payments can be matched automatically, and disbursements can be made without manual checks.
For associations, it also provides peace of mind by eliminating the need for personal accounts and allowing payments to be tracked directly in the system, without the need for multiple people to manage financial flows.

Greater Security Through Transparency
The new infrastructure makes it possible to track payments in greater detail and detect anomalies more quickly. Standardization entails clearer requirements for traceability, identification, and verification in every transaction. This creates greater overall security—both for organizations and for the individuals who handle money in their operations.

Digital from Start to Finish
“This is one of the most important modernizations in many, many years. For the first time, we can process payments digitally from start to finish—without manual steps, without file formats, and without organizations having to build their own banking infrastructure. This creates transparency, security, and a whole new opportunity to automate everyday tasks.”
— Petter Sehlin, founder of Ping Payments

Summary
2026 will fundamentally modernize the Swedish payments system. File transfers will be replaced by API communication and information-rich transactions. The result will be less administrative work, better control, and a simpler day-to-day operation for both organizations and digital systems—while at the same time increasing the demands for transparency and security.