Arion Bank and Kar­dio enter into part­ner­ship

Arion Bank and Kardio have signed a partnership agreement linking Kardio’s expense management solutions with Arion Bank’s diverse range of payment services for businesses.

Kardio is a fast-growing Icelandic software company offering businesses solutions that enable them to manage their expenses in one place, including payment cards, purchase invoices and employee expenses, with further solutions set to be added in the near future.

Kardio enables businesses to issue payment cards in a matter of seconds, manage employee spending limits and monitor expenses in real time. Artificial intelligence also carries out a significant proportion of the manual work associated with invoices, receipts and accounting.

The solution makes it easier for finance managers to manage a wide range of expense-related tasks. For example, if an employee needs to purchase a software subscription, a manager can issue them with a digital card in a matter of seconds and set the spending limit in advance. This means that the employee does not need to borrow a company card or pay the expense out of their own pocket. The accounting information is also linked to the transaction from the outset, thereby reducing the need for subsequent manual processing.

Work is now well under way to integrate Kardio’s and Arion Bank’s solutions, and the service is expected to be available with Arion Bank cards in early 2027.

Benedikt Gíslason, CEO of Arion Bank:

“Over the past few years, we have worked systematically to make it easier for businesses to manage their day-to-day finances, harnessing technology to simplify various processes that could previously be time-consuming. Our partnership with Kardio is a natural continuation of that journey. We reviewed the market and concluded that Kardio offers the best expense management solution available today. Our strategy is to work with strong fintech companies, where we see the innovation and energy that we want to help harness, and we are therefore very excited about what lies ahead.”

Arnar Jónsson, Managing Director of Kardio:

“We want to make corporate expense management as transparent and automated as possible. Our partnership with Arion Bank is an important step for Kardio, bringing together the Bank’s experience and Kardio’s specialist expertise. We chose to work with Arion Bank because it has both the capabilities and the ambition to develop its services at the pace businesses demand today. We are only just getting started and look forward to seeing more businesses gain better control of their expenses.”

At the signing of the agreement.
From left: Viktor Sævarsson, Gunnar Helgi Gunnsteinsson, Benedikt Gíslason, CEO of Arion Bank, Arnar Jónsson, Guðberg Sumarliðason, Jón Dal Kristbjörnsson and Margrét Sveinsdóttir of Arion Bank’s Corporate & Investment Banking division.