OREANDA-NEWS. March 26, 2014. SEB has decided to step up its collaboration with MasterCard in the Baltic States and, as part of that, will start offering its clients a new MasterCard debit card. The launch of new card products on the market is due to SEB’s decision to gradually change over to the MasterCard brand in Estonia this year.

The MasterCard debit card has the advantages of a credit card, allowing the card to be used for purchases online and for booking hotels or car rentals. The MasterCard debit card is already automatically added to the secure online purchasing programme (3D Secure) that makes buying via the Internet more secure than it has been before and reduces the potential for online fraud. Applications for the new debit card will be accepted from 10 March in Estonia and Latvia, and from 1 April in Lithuania.

Meelis Nurk, who heads card operations in the SEB Baltic business development division, said that working with MasterCard on bank cards is one of the bigger steps taken by SEB Baltic divisions in harmonising their services. “We are streamlining our portfolio and will offer our customers MasterCard products as the first option. Working with MasterCard will allow us to increase the efficiency of our operations, which will benefit our clients in the longer term,” Nurk noted.

The long-term ambition of SEB is to secure a smooth changeover to MasterCard. The changeover period will be as customer-friendly as possible – for both new and existing card users. All cards already issued by SEB will be valid until the expiry date marked on the card, and the changeover to MasterCard cards will occur when a card is renewed. Customers will be notified of all the significant changes concerning the changeover to MasterCard services.
For customers still requiring some specific VISA functionality, SEB will provide the possibility to own a VISA brand card even after the expiry date of an existing card.

In Estonia, SEB has issued more than 530 000 cards, including 85 000 MasterCard cards. In Latvia, more than 574 000 cards have been issued, with 271 000 of these already under the MasterCard brand; in Lithuania, SEB has issued more than 945 000 cards, with 245 000 of these under the MasterCard brand.