Apple Pay payment solution launched in Estonia

TALLINN – Starting Wednesday, the Apple Pay payment solution can be used in Estonia and is currently only supported by online banks Monese, Revolut and N26.

Apple Pay is officially supported in Estonia via online banks Monese, Revolut and N26 starting Wednesday, Monese's head of communications Katrin Tibar told BNS. From Wednesday, Monese is offering the Apple Pay payment solution on 13 new markets and in a total of 27 European countries.

At present, Apple Pay can be used in Estonia with Visa cards issued by Revolut and Mastercard cards issued by Monese and N26.

Apple Pay works in the same contactless payment terminals that are already widely used in commerce and where, today, buyers can use their debit and credit cards for contactless payments, Visa said.

Approximately 90 percent of sales points in Estonia have by now been equipped with card payment terminals enabling contactless payment. By 2020, all card terminals will accept contactless payment.

"With Apple Pay and the Visa Token Service security solution, people can use their iPhone and Apple Watch smart watch the same way when paying as they have been using their bank cards until now, all the while not disclosing their account details, which makes shopping significantly more secure, Henning Holtan, head of Visa's Nordic and Baltic region, said in a press release.

While credit or debit cards are used via the Apple Pay application, the physical card numbers are not stored on the smart device or on Apple's servers. Instead, Visa Token Service creates a unique account number for the device and each purchase is authorized with a one-off unique dynamic security code.

If an Apple Pay user's iPhone is stolen, for example, they can immediately deactivate their digital account number through the bank without having to block or swap their physical Visa card.

Apple Pay is the payment solution of US tech giant Apple that enables to use the iPhone or Apple Watch smart watch for contactless payments.