From now on, customers of SEB can make transfers via mobile application also to customers of other banks by using the phone number only

Along with SEB joining to the Proxy Registry “Instant Links” developed and maintained by the Bank of Latvia, from 19 March onwards, customers of the bank will have more convenient payment service available via mobile devices. Customers of SEB, who know the beneficiary’s phone number will be able to make transfers not only to the users of SEB mobile application, but also to customers of other banks, which have joined to the Proxy Registry “Instant Links”. So far, Bank Citadele and SEB have joined.

“Joining of SEB to the Proxy Registry “Instant Links” is a significant step towards the development and wide availability of innovative payment services to the residents of Latvia and entrepreneurs. Instant payments, which were introduced by Latvia as the first country of the euro zone back in August 2017, and the Proxy Registry “Instant Links”, developed and maintained by the Bank of Latvia since the summer of 2019, provide not only better, more convenient and safer services to the society, but also serve as basis for further development of innovative payment services. Entrepreneurs operating in the areas of fintech, e-commerce, trade, service provision and other gain possibility to develop new services, which are convenient for the customers by using the infrastructure provided by the Bank of Latvia. Banks are also winners, since they are thus able to improve and supplement their range of services to be provided to their customers,” stresses Harijs Ozols, Head of Innovative Payment Services Development of the Bank of Latvia.

“For several years, our customers, who use SEB mobile application, have been provided the possibility to transfer money to their friends or acquaintances within the framework of the bank by using the phone number. Thanks to the convenient daily use, the number of users of SEB mobile application has grown by approximately 35% in the last year, exceeding 154,000. Now, along with joining to the the Proxy Registry “Instant Links” maintained by the Bank of Latvia, the range of potential beneficiaries of payments to be made by our customers will expand significantly, because, as soon as any other bank would join this registry, customers of that particular bank will be able to make a transfer quickly and conveniently not only to the customers of SEB, but also of other banks. This means that the customers will no longer be obliged to right down and enter account number of the payment beneficiary. All they’ll have to do, is to find the necessary person in their contact list to make a transfer,” admits Arnis Škapars, Board Member of SEB.

In order to use the new service, customers of SEB have to activate settings in SEB mobile application. Demonstrative step-by-step description of connection of payments to the phone number in SEB mobile application is available on the website of SEB.

Facts about SEB mobile application – currently used by more than 154,000 private persons. Number of users has grown by approximately 35% in a year, while the number of internetbank users has decreased by 5,000. Mobile application is appreciated by the customers for low scale daily operations – to make transfers, send requests and check the account balance. 63% of all the transfers made in the mobile application do not exceed 30 euro. Furthermore, 8% of the transfers are made to their own accounts and 17% – to accounts held by other customers of SEB. So far, majority of payments required manual entry of the account number. After the bank’s joining to the Proxy Registry “Instant Links” maintained by the Bank of Latvia, circle of contacts, which may be transferred money without looking for and entering historical account numbers, will expand significantly for the customers of SEB. Simply and conveniently.

Facts about instant payments and the Proxy Registry “Instant Links” – In August 2017, Latvia was the first country of the euro zone to launch instant payments – innovative, modern, instant interbank transfers, available at any time of the day as well as on weekends and holidays. During this short period of time, instant payments have become available to more than 90% of the customers of the credit institutions of Latvia and enjoy status of standard of interbank payments instead of exclusive service – in 2019 alone, approximately 16.1 million of instant payments have been completed for the total amount of approximately 3.5 billion euro. In the summer of 2019, public became aware of another innovative solution – possibility to make interbank payments specifying mobile phone number of the beneficiary only, thus avoiding necessity to know and enter current account number for each payment. The Bank of Latvia developed and still maintains the Proxy Registry “Instant Links”, which provides saving of the account numbers of customers and mobile number links. The Proxy Registry “Instant Links” provides also saving and use of other identifiers linked to the customer's account (for example, e-mail address, ID card number) for more convenient instant payments. The Proxy Registry “Instant Links” may be used for more convenient making of both instant payments and other kinds of payments, including internal payments of the credit institutions.