OREANDA-NEWS. On January 29, 2009 The largest Nordic bank Nordea and Finnish retail chain Stockmann launched a regionally unique cooperation project: they are the first to introduce a common MasterCard credit card enabling payments in different states and stores. From today, the Stockmann MasterCard is also available in Estonia, reported the press-centre of Nordea.

 According to the CEO of Nordea Bank Estonia Vahur Kraft, Nordea Finland and Stockmann have been cooperating for more than ten years. Stockmann MasterCard has widened the scope of this cooperation to Estonia and Latvia. „In today’s changed economic environment, cooperation and joining forces are extremely important. The first to benefit from this are obviously the clients,“ said Kraft.

The aim of the cooperation project between Nordea Bank, Stockmann and MasterCard is to create synergy between the customer loyalty programs of the two groups by launching an international credit card based on client relationship. The card has classical MasterCard functionality and can also be used outside Stockmann department stores.

„The main strength of the cooperation project lies in merging the know-how of two large companies. We brought together the Stockmann customer loyalty program with more than 20 years of traditions and Nordea’s credit power and card management experience. I believe that the international credit card allows us to offer our clients more added value and we consider this unique cooperation project a logical part of developing our loyalty program,“ said the head of Stockmann department store Marge Turner.

The uniqueness of the common credit card lies in its international scope and added value package. The card offers all the Stockmann loyal customer benefits, as well as special MasterCard benefits and gold level prices and benefits at Nordea Bank. Clients do not need a settlement account at Nordea to obtain the Stockmann and Nordea common card. The compact product helps to reduce the number of cards carried around in one’s purse every day.

All in all, Stockmann has 1.6 million clients, nearly half of whom currently make use of the Stockmann customer credit card. Nordea Bank has a large share and vast experience in the Nordic credit card market.

Nordea Bank Estonia is part of the largest financial group in the Nordic countries. Nordea’s vision is to be the leading Nordic bank, acknowledged for its people, creating superior value for customers and shareholders. Nordea has around 10 million customers, approx. 1,400 branch offices and a leading netbanking position with 5.1 million e-customers. The Nordea share is listed on Nasdaq OMX Nordic in Stockholm, Helsinki and Copenhagen.