I wish we used Swish a lot more often.

91% of Swedes use Swish at least once a month. Only 2% use it to pay in stores. Cards? 61%.

Source: Sveriges Riksbank, Betalningsrapporten 2026 https://www.riksbank.se/sv/betalningar—kontanter/sa-betalar-svenskarna/betalningsrapport-2026/

Payments run on networks: your money is only as useful as the places that accept it. A card issued by a US bank will work at any terminal in Stockholm because VISA and Mastercard built universal acceptance. Swish dominates P2P payments, but lags behind in physical retail.

One of the reasons is still rather limited acceptance. Swish is often treated as a fallback to cards, the thing you use when you forgot your wallet. Until it’s available at every counter, it can’t compete with “works everywhere.”

Another reason can be its payment initiation stack. Tap-and-go with a card or mobile wallet takes two seconds. Swish means switching apps, opening BankID, authenticating. Small gap, but at the point-of-sale seconds matter.

None of these are unsolvable. Swish is too good to only stay a P2P champion. It should work at any counter, in any store in Sweden, as universal as VISA or Mastercard.