OREANDA-NEWS. October 26, 2010. SEB launched a new-generation Internet bank that is distinct from the previous version in its greater ease of use and comprehensiveness. For the first time in Estonia, SEB clients have a personal chief financial officer – the Rahapaevik, or Money Log, that helps keep an eye on everyday money matters, reported the press-centre of SEB.

“The efforts made in the early part of the last decade in the field of IT have secured Estonia’s international reputation as an e-state. Maintaining this position is an increasingly major challenge that requires constant development. Having good ideas and knowing the needs of first-class consumers are more important than big sums of money in the field of e-services. After nearly two years of development, we are bringing customers the most modern Internet bank in Estonia, the proprietary solutions and applications of which are state-of-the-art anywhere in the world,“ said the chairman of the SEB management board Riho Unt at today’s release event.

Nearly one in two Estonian inhabitants uses SEB’s Internet bank. In a year, the Internet bank receives 30 million visits, and the average visit lasts six minutes. The most popular activities in the Internet bank are checking balances and activity statements and executing payments. SEB’s private customers make 91% of their payments and 85% of their securities transactions online. To service this amount of traffic through the branches, SEB would need 2500 locations in addition to its existing 47 branches.

”As the Internet bank is a banking channel of critical importance to our customers, we did some research and analyzed their needs thoroughly before unveiling the new version. Over 2500 users of the Internet bank were involved in the development work. The studies showed that the increasing number of clients would need a different kind of view of their money matters than previous Internet banks had afforded. I believe that the SEB Money Log solution will be a trailblazer in online banking, as customers need a more analytical approach to their expenses and revenues,“ Unt added.

Money Log as consumer protection
According to TNS Emor, 39 percent of households keeps track of their receipts and expenditures. Just two years ago, the figure was 30 percent, which points up a trend of keeping costs under increasing control. ”Before changeover to the euro, potential price rises are under public scrutiny. The best means for combating concealed price rises is a clear overview of expenditures. Keeping a family budget does not just encourage greater self-discipline in consumers, it also keeps merchants honest,“ said Unt.

SEB Rahapaevik is free of charge for customers. When the service is enabled, Rahapaevik analyzes a customer’s transactions for the last six months, distributes them automatically into expense categories and generates a monthly budget on the basis of the average expenses. People will have a clear overview of their money affairs at all times. Rahapaevik settings can be changed based on personal preference and the bank sees the data there only with the customer’s consent. If desired, family members can be added to Rahapaevik and account statements from other banks can also be added, giving customers an even better overview of their financial affairs.

To introduce the new online bank, SEB will be installing an interactive demo wall in larger shopping centres in Tallinn, Tartu, Narva, Parnu, Viljandi and Haapsalu to let the public see the new system for themselves.