OREANDA-NEWS. November 27, 2012. SEB is offering an innovative savings product, Digikassa, which allows you to set aside virtual cents generated by card payments, similarly to a conventional piggy bank. Digikassa allows you to save up as you pay by debit card, reported the press-centre of SEB.    

A survey by SEB suggests that even people with a significant saving ability will not have one month’s cash set aside in 36 per cent of cases. Saving up requires determination and discipline, and, appreciating this, we searched for a solution to help people, in the simplest and least distracting way possible, to set aside money for the future as they go about consuming,” noted Eerika Vaikmae-Koit, Board Member and Head of Retail Banking and Technology at SEB.

In the case of Digikassa, at the end of each day the banking system rounds to the nearest euro the card payments that have been charged to an account, with the difference in cents transferred from the customer’s regular account into her/his savings deposit by the following morning. Debit card payments made online count as card payments as well. For instance, if you pay 6 euros and 40 cents with a card within a day, 60 cents (7.00-6.40=0.60) will be transferred into your savings deposit by the following morning. If multiple payments are made within a day, rounding is done for each payment separately. The total amount is transferred into the savings deposit in one lump sum. If an amount paid with a card is an even amount as it is (for example, 2 euros), there is no rounding up, and no money from the transaction is transferred into Digikassa.

“The more active card users are young people who, at the same time, have the lowest savings and are the least determined to save up. I think it is particularly young people that Digikassa will help to build up the first savings of their lives as they engage in everyday transactions. By setting aside a few cents from each purchase, you can accumulate a reserve of funds to help to build your sense of security or avoid a situation where you have to take out a loan to cover any unexpected outlays. On average, an SEB customer completes approximately 20 card payments a month, and by using Digikassa, you could set aside for the future approximately 10 euros as you go about consuming as usual. In total, SEB customers conduct more than 4 million bank card transactions a month,” added Vaikmae-Koit.

SEB customers can activate their Digikassa via the Internet Bank or at a branch. A contract for Digikassa is for an indefinite term, and opening and using the service is free of charge.