SEB is no longer providing banking services at the post offices next year

SEB is no longer providing banking services at the post offices starting from 29 February 2016. Financial services will still be available at the post offices since Eesti Post continues to offer cash deposit and payment services to the customers of all banks on the same conditions.

“Eesti Post has developed autonomous solutions for the mediation of payments and cash deposits on accounts and we recommend that the customers of SEB Postipank will switch to the services of Eesti Post,” says Eerika Vaikmäe-Koit, Head of SEB Retail Banking and Technology Area.

“In order to provide banking services in rural locations, it makes more sense to cooperate instead of competing, as this ensures the availability of services in areas, where it would otherwise have no commercial viability, for instance, in ensuring cash circulation. The share of cash in everyday payments is rapidly shrinking, but this does not mean that the system of cash circulation would not need development. On the contrary, the less demand there is for cash, the more complicated it is to offer this service throughout the country and so different companies should cooperate to ensure effective cash availability,” Vaikmäe-Koit adds.

“In Estonia, it would be possible to provide a cash-back solution across the market, in other words from every payment terminal. However, building such a system requires that all banks, card organisations and card transaction processors are involved in the development. We are planning to start a broader debate at the level of the Estonian Banking Association to create such a solution, as it would ensure cash circulation in rural areas in the best possible way,” Vaikmäe-Koit notes.

As a concrete step to improve availability of cash, in the next three years SEB will replace all its ATMs with those of the new generation, which are more reliable and secure. “In Estonia, there is a wide range of payment methods that offer an alternative to cash. For instance, all basic daily banking transactions can be conveniently made over the Internet or mobile phone. We are planning to raise awareness so that customers know the various settlement methods they can use,” Vaikmäe-Koit concluded.

There are a total of approximately 800 ATMs in Estonia and about a third of them are provided by SEB.


For more information:

Maarja Gavronski
Project Manager for Communication
Marketing and Communications Division
SEB Pank

Phone +372 665 5270
Mobile +372 5656 5785
Address Tornimäe 2, 15010 Tallinn
E-mail maarja.gavronski@seb.ee 
www.seb.ee