Digital challenger Lunar becomes the first bank in the Nordics to start Visa card processing on Pismo’s cloud platform, while its partnership with Wise allows Lunar customers to send money abroad at favourable terms.
Lunar, a 100% digital bank based in Denmark, has established important partnerships with industry leaders – Visa and Wise – to expand available payment services for its over 1 million users across the Nordics.
On June 18, the challenger made two important announcements, which illustrate the active expansion of its offering suite:
- Visa, Pismo, and Lunar teamed up so that Lunar can process Visa card payments through Pismo’s cloud-native banking and payments platform, enabling quicker and more adaptable banking services across the Nordics.
- Lunar has joined forces with Wise, a global money transfer platform, to offer faster, safer, simpler, and more transparent international payments that enhance user experience and reduce costs.
Lunar Cloud Update
Lunar’s collaboration with Pismo, acquired by Visa last year and integrated directly into the payment giant’s offerings, marks the challenger’s strategic shift toward greater speed, independence, and innovation in delivering financial services across the Nordics.
By adopting Pismo’s cloud-native platform that covers key financial services, Lunar can streamline its payment processing and core banking operations, enabling faster deployment of new products for over one million private and business users in Denmark, Sweden, and Norway.
The integration also provides direct access to Visa’s AI-driven fraud protection and digital tools, allowing Lunar to reduce reliance on legacy systems and offer a more seamless, secure user experience. The partnership positions Lunar to modernize its infrastructure while staying agile in a rapidly evolving fintech landscape.
“This partnership gives us the flexibility to build and launch new products independently, driven by the speed, simplicity, and control we believe modern banking should offer,” says Ken Villlum Klausen, CEO and founder of Lunar.
Lunar’s Dive Into Seamless Remittance
Before its partnership with Wise Platform, Lunar Bank also offered international payment services. However, their speed, transparency, and reach differed from what will now be available to Lunar customers via Wise.
With Wise integration, Lunar app users can send money in over 40 currencies to more than 160 countries faster (with 65% arriving in 20 seconds or less), with greater transparency, and at lower cost. The solution uses Lunar’s cloud-native Moonrise core tech and Wise’s network (with direct links to 6 payment systems and 70+ regulatory licences worldwide).
From now on, Lunar clients don’t have to navigate through additional steps or third-party services to complete cross-border transfers; the whole experience is embedded and white-labeled within the bank’s native app. Thanks to Wise’s direct connections to major global payment systems, transfers become near-instant. Besides, the integration ensures real-time visibility into exchange rates and transaction details, boosting remittance transparency and affordability.
The new feature is already live in Denmark and will roll out to Sweden and Norway soon.
This collaboration tackles the longstanding pain points of cross-border banking: high cost, low speed, and hidden fees. As Lunar’s CEO, Ken Villum Klausen explains, integrating Wise removes complexity and cost from international payments and exemplifies a smart fintech collaboration that makes cross-border transfers fast, fair, and designed around customer needs.
