23 May 2019
Finland’s Savings Banks Group has chosen to extend its existing agreement with EVRY for five years. The agreement includes debit and credit card production as well as associated services.
“It was natural for us to continue working with EVRY from two different perspectives. Firstly, and most importantly, it is important for us to have a high-quality card production service and for this to be cost-efficient and reliable. EVRY has proven its strength in this area over the years. Secondly, during the new agreement period we will be working with EVRY to help meet our customers’ emerging needs, ranging from physical payment cards to other methods of payments,” comments Manu Kauppila, Head of Cards at the Savings Banks Group.
As part of its collaboration with EVRY, the Savings Banks Group has developed Finland’s first payment card partly made of Finnish birch. In addition to the birch card, the Savings Banks’ customers can select their own photo for their card with the help of services provided by EVRY. Designing payment cards featuring a photo of one’s family or pet, or a holiday photo, is popular with the Savings Banks Group’s retail banking customers.
The Savings Banks Group and EVRY believe that physical bank cards will continue to have a place in our wallets for a long time to come, even though consumers are increasingly also using their mobile phones and other payment methods. According to statistics from the Bank of Finland, the use of physical cards as a means of payment has increased considerably during recent years, in part due to the popularity of contactless payments.
“We are really pleased that Finland’s Savings Banks Group has once again put its trust in us and has chosen to continue our successful collaboration. We are working hard to offer solutions that facilitate our customers’ day-to-day management of their card operations, however consumers choose to pay - physical cards, mobile phones or wearables with built-in payment chips are all regarded as convenient. We offer solutions for different payment requirements, and we already successfully deliver mobile payment solutions in the Nordic region and in northern Europe,” comments Jarmo Rouhiainen, Head of Card personalisation at EVRY Financial Services.
Contact persons
Viola Hellström, VP Communications and Marketing Financial Services, EVRY,
tel: + 46 73 708 1727
Manu Kauppila, Head of Cards, the Savings Banks Group, tel: + 358 50 5710 936
About the Savings Banks Group
The Savings Banks Group has been part of Finnish society since 1823. Today, the Savings Banks have nearly half a million customers and some 150 branches throughout Finland. The Group employs nearly 1,300 people.