Siirto – Creating new digital products with commercial confidence

Siirto is a Finnish mobile payment system enabling real-time account-to-account transfers by linking bank accounts directly to phone numbers. Bypassing traditional card networks, Siirto offers a seamless payment experience for consumers.

During 2025, Siirto partnered with Qvik to explore the commercial viability of two new digital payment service concepts – designed to complement its existing offering and support future growth.

Siirto operates in a market dominated by players with strong network effects and high brand recognition – where scale often determines success.

To compete effectively, Siirto needed to identify opportunities where, instead of scale, it could win on added value, specialization, and relevance. New digital services offered a way to address underserved needs, differentiate Siirto’s offering, and create value even for standalone users.

In an evolving payments landscape where consumers are increasingly open to new financial solutions, well-timed innovation also creates opportunities to improve retention, test emerging use cases, and increase customer lifetime value.

Siirto had developed two early-stage digital service concepts based on hypotheses about consumer frictions in everyday financial management – areas where Siirto believed it could deliver meaningful value.

To validate these assumptions and reduce commercial risk, Siirto partnered with Qvik. Using a business design approach, Qvik conducted a consumer study focused on understanding how people manage their finances in everyday life. The study explored not only pain points, but also consumer needs, aspirations, behaviors, and attitudes related to selected aspects of financial management.

"Working with Siirto was an interesting deep dive into consumers’ everyday finances. We conducted a straightforward research process with the aim of clarifying the commercial potential of future offerings."

Katariina Helin, Senior Business Designer, Qvik

As key insights from the study, Siirto gained a comprehensive understanding of consumer needs, motivations, constraints, behavioral drivers, and attitudes related to the selected areas of everyday financial management.

Crucially, the study also produced clear evidence invalidating one of the initial hypotheses – allowing Siirto to confidently narrow its focus and refine its final digital service direction based on real consumer insight.

“Business design helped us sharpen our value proposition and strip away noise from initial ideas. Working with Qvik deepened our market understanding and will save time by keeping future planning focused on what truly matters to customers.”

Matti Rusila, Head of Strategic Planning, Siirto

The collaboration helped Siirto clarify its commercial potential within an emerging digital payments ecosystem – and identify where strategic investment would create the greatest business value.

With validated insight, Siirto was able to move forward in its digital service development efforts with reduced risk, focus, and greater confidence.