OREANDA-NEWS. April 13, 2011. Sampo Bank launches new generation chip and PIN credit cards for private and business clients in April. MasterCard Credit and MasterCard Business are credit cards that are as secure as possible, reported the press-centre of Sampo Bank.

A client who applies for a MasterCard credit card can request extra cards for their spouses or partners, children or parents, which are not subject to application or annual charges, and set different user limits for these extra cards. This makes it easy for a household to use different cards that are all tied to the same account. It is also possible to take out travel insurance with the card, which covers the entire family for the price of one person. This solution adds value to the Sampo Bank’s loyalty programme ISEKAS, where the pricing principles of banking services selected by the client themselves apply to the entire family.

Sampo Bank’s Personal and Retail Banking Director Tonu Vanajuur says that new generation cards have taken all the best features of the cards offered on the market and combined them into a new product, thereby creating a very useful price model for clients and their families.

“Until now, the banking market has been offering cards each of which has their advantages, but the banks have kept some of the advantages for their other competing cards, so we decided there was a place in the market for a bankcard that considers the various needs of a household as a whole," said Vanajuur. “I believe that the things clients appreciate most about cards are security, multiple functions, good price and reliability, and we have achieved all this in cooperation with MasterCard."

The new cards are not subject to additional service or conversion charges with regard to payments made abroad, which clearly makes transactions abroad cheaper for clients.

If a client uses their card or it is stolen, the bank will send a new card to the client by courier the next day in Estonia and within three business days abroad.

A number of tests were conducted all over the world before the new cards were issued. The new generation chip and PIN cards worked without any problems.