As reported by the Estonian national broadcaster ERR, the Bank of Estonia classified card payments among the most essential services that must work even during a crisis – even when the system cannot connect to the Internet.
“The reason for this change is to prepare for possible disruptions in the card payment system, so that people can still carry out card transactions at such a time. This will be very important in the future when purchasing essential purchases such as food, fuel and medicines”, Raineris Oltas, head of the Payment and Settlement Systems Department of the Bank of Estonia, explained to ERR.
In Estonia, one million card payments are made every day. According to the Estonian Retailers Association, last year card payments accounted for 70 percent. in-store transactions.
The head of SEB’s corporate banking service, Peep Jalakas, told ERR that this change does not cause significant additional tasks for banks.
“Not much is changing for banks today. Technical possibilities are already available in card readers”, observed P. Jalakas.
Offline payments will be limited to essential services and transaction limits will be set in cooperation with international payment service providers. Contactless payments will not be possible without a network connection, the publication states.
“People who are used to tapping on their smartphones or smart watches, which is now done by a fifth of Estonians, will have to use their physical bank cards and confirm purchases with a PIN code in such cases,” R. Oltas told the publication.
Bank of Lithuania: a similar opportunity is being created here
In Lithuania, payment cards and other methods are also much more common than cash. The numbers vary depending on the source of the information, but there is no doubt that it is the dominant payment method in the country today.
For example, a survey of Lithuanian residents commissioned by Luminor Bank and published in November showed that only 15% of citizens indicated that they pay for goods and services in cash. of the Lithuanian population, while more than four fifths of the Lithuanian population (81%) indicate that they use a bank card.
Therefore, there is a real possibility that in case of an unexpected crisis, most of the money of the population would not be in the wallet, but on the bank card.
However, the Bank of Lithuania indicates that such an opportunity is being created in Lithuania as well.
“Banks have business continuity plans, which provide measures and actions that they would take in case of various challenges. Bank of Lithuania in 2024 March. approved the description of the requirements for the provision of payment services and the issuance of cash during the mobilization for banks, which basically complements the above-mentioned plans, it now creates a new, additional element of protection – a new possibility to ensure that, in certain circumstances, payment cards can be used for critical payments in the event of a loss of connection” , – it is written 15min in the received response from the Bank of Lithuania.
The Bank of Lithuania stated that it would not provide more information about when such a decision could be implemented.
“Managing various risks, business continuity plans and information about their implementation are confidential, we do not provide or comment on this information,” reads the received comment.
When asked about such a possibility and its technical implementation, the representatives of SEB Bank operating in Lithuania referred back to the Bank of Lithuania.
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2024-07-04 23:16:55