TALLINN - Hansabank Group reported last week that it has issued 2 million bankcards in Baltic states. By the beginning of December, the bank had issued 2 million debit and credit cards.
According to the bank, it has issued 829,000 bankcards in Estonia, 782,000 cards in Lithuania and 404,000 cards in Latvia.
In December 2002, Hansabank was the first bank in the Baltic states and Nordic countries to start issuing smart-cards. By now, over 80,000 customers have already received a smart-card.
At present the bank has more than 1,000 ATMs in the three Baltic countries, and card payments are supported by over 27,000 shops, restaurants and other sale points.
According to a survey made by Emor, 48 percent of households said that they preferred to pay by bankcard for larger purchases. A year ago the percentage was 39 percent and two years ago less than 33 percent.
Hansabank Group is the largest banking group in the Baltics in terms of assets.
