Luottokunta is the leading card payment service provider in Finland. We are striving to make card payments more efficient for everyone involved: consumers, merchants and banks. We have been given the opportunity to play an active role in cooperation that has made Finland the world's leading card payment market in relation to its population. Finns make three times more card payments than the EU average. Card payments are cost-efficient and strengthen the competitiveness of Finnish society.
The transfer to the Single Euro Payments Area (SEPA) and, consequently, to international debit payment cards, is substantially increasing the volume of payment transactions processed by Luottokunta. The SEPA-based internationalisation and harmonisation of payment transactions is also offering us fresh opportunities to expand our services beyond Finnish borders. Working towards increasingly cost-efficient and high-quality services is a permanent focus area at Luottokunta.
Security is the indispensable prerequisite of card payment usability and popularity. Its importance is accentuated by the increasing number of international data system break-ins. Luottokunta has successfully combated the rising trend in credit card crime: through our determined efforts we have managed to keep our fraud losses at less than half of the average for European banks.
Our focus on secure card payments requires long-term cooperation with all card payment parties. It is highly positive to note that card payments made with chip payment terminals have rapidly gained ground during the last 12 months in Finland. In the future, card transaction processing practices will be increasingly guided by the international payment card industry's data security certification system.
The birth of the Single Euro Payments Area and the need for payment services across national boundaries are becoming the main drivers furthering the development of the entire payment industry. Payment practices are also changing, and the next major wave of development is already in view: contactless payment. New technologies will enable us to disconnect payment from the card format which has been in use for over 50 years and to transfer it e.g. to mobile phones. Near field communication (NFC) speeds up payment and offers new transaction possibilities. Luottokunta is actively developing and providing new more efficient payment solutions.
