Swipp, a mobile payments service owned by a consortium of Danish banks, has acquired Paii, a rival outfit formed by a group of telcos. Developed by mobile operators TDC, Telenor, Telia and 3, Paii has established itself as the third most popular m-payments service in Denmark, behind Swipp and market leader Mobilepay. However, the firm's chairman Flemming Jenson says that the owners have come to the conclusion that "payments are not telecommunications companies' core business in the same way as it is for the banks". Meanwhile, Swipp - owned by Nordea, Association of Regional Banks, Local Banks and Nykredit - says that it will release a new app next year that will combine the best technology from both ventures for online, offline and P2P payments. There will be no job losses after the acquisition.

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