SEB Bank password cards due to expire

As of September 13th all password cards issued by SEB Bank that the bank customers have been using for logging in to the Internet Bank and for approving their daily banking transactions will cease to be valid. 

‘Almost two years ago we started advising our customers to replace their password cards with other authentication tool. Our chosen way of a gradual shift-away from cards has enabled a smooth implementation of the change. The number of customers whose cards will cease to be valid on September 13th is not large. However, even if some customers fail to replace their cards, they will have a possibility to do it anytime later. Customers will no longer be able to use password cards to log in to the Internet Bank, however, they will have a possibility to download and install Smart-ID app,’ comments Vaidas Žagūnis, member of the management board and Head of Retail Banking Division of SEB Bank.

SEB Bank’s representative notes that the popularity of password cards due to their limited application has been steadily declining for some time, and the announced intentions to abandon them altogether even strengthened and accelerated the determination among customers to go for a more modern authentication tool.

‘Back in 2000, SEB Bank was one of the first in Lithuania to introduce the Internet Bank. Already at that time certain restrictions were applied to password cards – they could not be used for cross-border payments and lower transaction limits were applied. With a rapid development of e- and mobile banking, the range of restrictions for the use of the cards was growing: password card holders could not sign e-agreements or have remote access to some other services. A password card could be basically used only for daily banking transactions, and this no longer answered the changing customer needs. Rapid improvement of e-banking services will continue, and the need for qualified signature with legal power equal to a hand-written signature will grow, therefore, there will also be an increase in the demand for modern tools for logging in to the Internet Bank,’ V. Žagūnis maintains.

The Head of SEB Bank’s Retail Banking Division also notes that with the migration of a large number of banking services to the internet it has become even more important to ensure that customer identification means meet the highest security standards. Extra attention to payments in cyberspace is devoted in terms of higher security standards laid down in the European Union Payment Services Directive (PSD2), which will come into force in the autumn of the current year – on September 14th.  

At present, an overwhelming majority of SEB bank’s private individual and corporate customers log in to the Internet Bank using Smart-ID application, a digipass or mobile signature.

Free-of-charge Smart-ID app can be downloaded online. It is convenient for the user, as she has to have only a smart device with the app installed. Smart-ID does not store PIN codes in the smart device, therefore, even if a phone is lost, customer data will remain safe. Also, if a customer has accounts with different banks in Lithuania, he will not require to have several authentication tools, as the majority of banks operating in Lithuania offer their customers a possibility to use Smart-ID app.