OREANDA-NEWS. May 27, 2010. Whereas to date it has cost private SEB clients 9 kroons in Estonia and 30 kroons (plus 2.5% of the withdrawn amount) abroad to withdraw money from the ATMs of other banks using their debit cards, starting from 1 July 2010 the cost will be the same everywhere: 9 kroons + 2.5% of the withdrawn amount. Withdrawals of up to 30,000 kroons in cash per month from the SEB network will remain free of charge for private clients, reported the press-centre of SEB.

“In 95% of cases our clients use SEB ATMs to withdraw money, but at the same time the amount of money being withdrawn abroad is on the rise,” explained Riho Unt, Chairman of the Management Board of SEB. “With Estonia adopting the single currency in January 2011 the borders between Estonia and the Eurozone will become even less important, which is why we’re harmonising the service fee we charge on cash withdrawals from other banks’ ATMs. All our clients will need to remember from now on is that wherever they are in the world, withdrawing cash from another bank’s ATM will cost them 9 kroons plus just 2.5% of the amount they take out, and that goes for private and business clients alike.”

Clients planning to withdraw large amounts of cash should still use an SEB ATM if possible, although with smaller amounts another bank’s ATM may make more sense, for example if the extra distance needing to be covered to reach an SEB ATM would mean additional cost. SEB has more than 300 ATMs around Estonia, and it remains free of charge for private clients to withdraw cash (up to 30,000 kroons per month) from SEB ATMs in Estonia, Latvia, Lithuania and Sweden using their debit cards.

80% of the transactions carried out using bankcards are card payments, with the remaining 20% being withdrawals from ATMs. With cross-usage, 50% of the withdrawal transactions are for amounts less than 300 kroons in Estonia and less than 1000 kroons abroad.