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Estonia 2026

Market Overview
Payment Organisation None (Pankade Kaardikeskus (PKK) became NETS Estonia).
Domestic Payment Brands No domestic payment brands.
Market Structure Estonia is the most developed digital market in the Baltic region.

Mastercard cards replaced most of the VISA cards.

There were 1.54 cards per capita in 2024 and 353.5 card payments per capita, of which 330.4 were by debit cards.

81.25% of cards are debit cards; however, banks need to consolidate credit cards, as 44.1% are inactive.

Swedbank and SEB Pank dominate the Estonian banking sector.
Two new merged bank operations: Coop Pank, Luminor Bank.

Emerging Open Banking ecosystem. Money laundering issues.
Notable Market Trends Rollout of contactless cards and POS terminals; MPOS terminals.

Following the COVID-19 pandemic, remote payments rose by 347% in number and a staggering 709% in value in 2021 from 2020.

Eesti Panki is proactively exploring the practicalities of using a blockchain-based Central Bank Digital Currency.
Major Card Issuers Swedbank, SEB Pank, Luminor Bank
Major Card Acquirers Swedbank, SEB Pank
Major Card Processors NETS Estonia (EstCard), Worldline Baltics (previously First Data)
Key Statistics 2024
Population

Cards

 1.37 million, with 1.54 cards per capita.

Debit: 1.72 million

Credit: 332,577

Total: 2.12 million
Card Payments  Debit 454.15 million; value €9.66 billion

Credit 31.82 million; value €1.11 billion

Total 490.77 million; value €10.94 billion
POS Terminals 48,939
POS Payments  All cards: 748.84 million; value: €15.11 billion)
ATMs 662 ATMs with cash function.
ATM Withdrawals  All cards: 38.21 million; value: €5.72 billion)
Digital A2A Payments Credit Transfers: 198.8 million (value: €209.3 billion)
– of which Online Banking E-Payments: 128.9 million (value: €161.8 billion)
– Direct Debits: no longer used in Estonia.
Note: Italic forecast figures for 2025F are estimated in the market context based on 2024 figures.
Source: ECB, Eesti Pank (Central Bank of Estonia).

Introduction – Payments in Estonia

Estonia, a member of the European Union, is a unitary parliamentary republic. The unicameral parliament Riigikogu serves as the legislative and the government as the executive and has 101 members. In January 2011, Estonia adopted the euro and became the 17th eurozone member state.

Estonia is a highly developed country, with a high-income advanced economy, which consistently ranks highly in international rankings for digitalisation of public services, and the prevalence of technology companies. Estonia’s competitive commercial banking sector, innovative e-services and mobile-based services are all evidence of its highly digitised market economy.

The adoption of the revised Payment Services Directive, PSD2, and disruptive technologies have set the stage for digital payments for the digital economy in Estonia. They have accelerated digital payment transformation and mobile payment services, as well as cardless IBAN-based payments directly from bank accounts.

In the last decade, Estonian consumers have embraced mobile devices such as tablets, smartphones and Internet of Things (IoT). This change significantly impacts their shopping experience. Consumers have become increasingly connected and they have started to purchase anywhere, at any time, from any device.

In addition, new consumer demands are a game changer. Estonian consumers like digital banking apps with access to all their accounts at different banks in one single app, with the option to make payments directly from their bank account of choice. Additionally, they appreciate more banking services and payment services added to their mobile banking app. Consumer adoption of digital payments in Estonia is driven by minimal cost, secure payments and a high level of user convenience.

Driven by the development of social media and mobile devices, the emergence of permanently connected consumers has impacted their interactions with brands but also their expectations of how to shop using the increasing number of touch points between consumers and merchants, e.g.:

The ongoing rollout of a mature online and mobile communication infrastructure is an enabler for digital card payment transformation and for Open Banking payments in Estonia.

In a few years from now, mobile banking apps and mobile payment apps are expected to combine account management, digital payment services, personal finance management and value-added digital services from location finders to digital vouchers.

Cash payments, card payments and cardless payments directly from bank accounts (A2A payments) remain all relevant for Estonian merchants and heavily used by Estonian consumers.

This country profile provides an introduction into two competing payment ecosystems in Estonia:

Legal Framework for Payment Services

The legal framework for European payment services is a joint project undertaken by the European Commission as the regulator, the European Central Bank (ECB) as the Euro System, and the European Payments Council (EPC) with the objective of standardising payments in Europe and to remove existing barriers, promote cross-border competition between payment services, strengthen the European internal market and drive the digital payment transformation.

Based on its vision, the EU Commission has therefore created a unique legal framework for cashless B2C and B2B payments that supersedes pre-existing national legislation and is binding for financial service providers and payment service providers throughout the EU.

Estonia has largely transposed this legal framework into its national payment legislation.

Historically, there has been a de facto national regulation of all Estonian payment schemes with high technical barriers to ensure and defend payment security.

With the implementation of the payment services directive, all payment services in Estonia are based on the unique legal framework for payment services of the European Commission effective in the European Economic Area (EEA).

In addition, the respective rules and regulations of the domestic card scheme and the international card schemes continue to be applied by the card payment service providers (e.g. EMV, PCI, RTS SCA, and SEPA Cards Framework), respectively.

Legal Framework relevant for Payment Services in Estonia

The revised Payment Services Directive, PSD2, had established a legal and regulatory framework for payment services providers, enforcing several protections for their clients such as safeguarding of funds; and required them to execute processes in accordance with banking regulations, such as KYC and AML. It has already resulted in significant progress regarding the integration of the European retail payments markets.

Following the alignment with the EEA region, the legal framework for payment services in Estonia includes the directives and regulations of the European Commission (EC), the ECB, and/or the national central bank (NCB) of the individual country.

All card payment service providers and all cardless payment service providers of the Open Banking payment ecosystem must apply for the European legal framework including:

Revised Payment Services Directive (PSD2)
PSD2 is the key directive for borderless banking and payment services in Europe.
Among others, PSD2 regulates digital payment services and payment service providers such as payment institutions, e-money institutions, payment initiation service providers and account information service providers. PSD2 formulates the Open Banking Mandate for regulated access to payment accounts.

General Data Protection Regulation (GDPR) – effective from May 2018
GDPR establishes a regulatory framework for customer control of their data through consent mechanisms, the right to be forgotten and the right to retrieve all personal data for re-use at other service providers of choice, thereby preventing a ‘lock-in’ situation.

E-Money Directive (EMD)
The EMD sets out the rules on the business and supervision of e-money institutions.

Anti-Money Laundering Directive (AMLD)
The AMLD6 aims to improve the harmonisation of the criminal liability of money laundering and terrorist financing across the EU27.

Customer Rights Directive (CRD)
CRD gives consumers the same strong rights across the EU. It aligns and harmonises national consumer rules, for example on the information consumers need to be given before they purchase something, and their right to cancel online purchases, wherever they shop in the EU.

EU Price Regulation for cross-border payments
In 2001, Regulation (EC) No 2560/2001, followed in 2009 by Regulation (EC) No 924/2009, fixed uniform underlying conditions for processing cross-border payments in euro, and the fees for intra-EU cross-border payments in euro were aligned with those for domestic payments in euro.

SEPA End-Date Regulation
SEPA payment instruments replaced domestic A2A payment instrument formats for euro payments.

Card Interchange Fee Regulation (IFR)
The IFR caps interchange fees for payments with consumer cards, effective from 9 December 2015. It increases transparency on fees thus permitting retailers to know the level of fees paid when accepting cards.

Domestic bank service laws
Complementary to EC directives and EC regulations.

Characteristics of the PSD2 Outlook: PSD3 and PSR

The adoption of PSD2 has formalised the relationship between banks and trusted payment providers (TPPs) by establishing the Open Banking Mandate providing open access to customer account data and the payments infrastructure. This is expected to stimulate the FinTech market to develop new integrated services models for both consumer and business customers.

This regulation is a reaction to the growing demand from customers as mobile and internet applications have become widely adopted driving expectations in how services should be delivered across all industries. Other market segments have adopted Open Banking APIs to respond to this demand and have shown that innovative applications can grow business and change customer behaviour.

PSD2 has a significant impact on the European payments industry. According to the EC, the revised Payment Services Directive brings several new important elements and improvements to the EU payment market e.g.:

In 2022, the regulator started a PSD2 review process, which will end up in a revised PSD2 dubbed PSD3. While consultations are currently ongoing, the revisions are expected to address the achievements of the PSD2 and evaluate the need for a revised standard.

Proposed EC Revisions to the EU Payment Services Regulation – PSD3 and PSR 

In June 2023, the European Commission (EC) published its proposed revisions to EU payment services legislation, as well as a proposal on Open Finance/data access in the financial services sector beyond Open Banking/payment accounts in the form of a new Open Finance framework called “FIDA”.

Essentially, the EC is proposing that PSD2 would be split into two different instruments. These will ensure consumers can continue to safely and securely make electronic payments and transactions in the EU, domestically or cross-border, in euro and non-euro. Whilst safeguarding their rights, it also aims to provide greater choice of payment service providers on the market:

The objective of the regulation is to enhance harmonisation of the rules and enforcement across the various EU Member States. In addition, the EC proposed to merge the E-Money Directive (EMD2) with the proposed PSD3 and PSR texts, so as to have one coherent regime for both payment services and e-money services, and thereby ensure a level-playing field between PIs and EMIs.

PSD3 also amends the Settlement Finality Directive (SFD) in order to allow non-bank PSPs (e.g. PIs and EMIs) to participate directly in SFD-designated payment systems. Fintechs will be given access to all EU payment systems, with appropriate safeguards, and giving them a right to have a bank account. That way, those non-bank PSPs would no longer need to rely on banks in order to execute payment transactions.

A system to check IBANs and a platform to enable payment service providers to share fraud-related information are two proposals around consumer protection, including an extension to all credit transfers of IBAN/name-matching verification services. These have been proposed by the Commission for instant payments in Euro. All consumers should benefit from them, for both regular and instant credit transfers.

The European Banking Authority (EBA) is given once again a number of mandates under PSD3 and the PSR to prepare draft regulatory technical standards (RTS) and draft implementing technical standards (ITS), ultimately to be adopted by the EC, as well as guidelines, and to continue maintaining the register.

In 2024, significant progress was made in updating PSD2. In April 2024, the European Parliament adopted the European Commission’s proposals for PSD3 and PSR at first reading. While the exact timelines for enforcement are not yet confirmed, it is anticipated that the finalised versions of PSD3 and PSR may become available by 2025.

In 2025, the EU made substantial progress toward finalising PSD3 and PSR, marking the next major phase in the evolution of Europe’s payment services framework. In June 2025, the Council of the EU reached agreement on compromise texts for both legislative instruments, subsequently endorsed by COREPER (the Committee of Permanent Representatives), enabling the start of trilogue negotiations with the European Parliament and the European Commission.

These negotiations aim to align positions on key issues, including liability for payment fraud, direct access of non-bank payment service providers to payment systems, and strengthened consumer protection. Final adoption and publication of the legislative package are expected by late 2025, after which the PSR will apply directly across all EU Member States, while PSD3 will require national transposition within approximately 12–18 months. This means the new framework could come into practical effect during 2026–2027.

The 2025 developments reaffirm the EU’s objective to harmonise payment regulation, enhance security and consumer rights, and create a more competitive and innovative payments landscape across the single market.

General Data Protection Regulation (GDPR) 

The General Data Protection Regulation (GDPR) is a legal framework that sets guidelines for the collection and processing of personal information from individuals who live in the European Union (EU). Since the Regulation applies regardless of where websites are based, it must be heeded by all sites that attract European visitors, even if they don’t specifically market goods or services to EU residents.

Adopted in April 2016, the Regulation came into full effect in May 2018, after a two-year transition period. The GDPR replaces the Data Protection Directive 95/46/EC and is designed to:

The GDPR mandates that EU visitors to all websites must be given a number of data disclosures. Sites must also take steps to facilitate such EU consumer rights as timely notification in the event of personal data being breached (breach notification). Among others, the GDPR mandates the user’s right to access its data and the right to be forgotten. In addition, the conditions for consent have been strengthened, and companies are no longer able to use long, illegible terms and conditions full of legalese. Also, it must be as easy to withdraw consent as it is to give it.

eIDAS regulation and Digital ID Trends

The electronic Identification, Authentication and Trust Services regulation (eIDAS) is a set of EU standards and regulations for electronic identification and trust services for electronic transactions in the European Single Market. It was established in the EU Regulation as of 23 July 2014, relating to electronic identification, and repeals directive 1999/93/EC from December 1999. It entered into force on 17 September 2014 and applies from 1 July 2016 except for certain articles, listed under its Article 52.

In June 2021, the European Commission proposed an update to eIDAS that will enable every European to have a set of digital identity credentials recognised anywhere in the EU. In May 2024, Regulation (EU) 2024/1183 entered into force, formally establishing the European Digital Identity (EUDI) Wallet under the revised eIDAS 2.0 framework. The regulation requires all EU Member States to provide at least one interoperable digital identity wallet within 24 months of the adoption of the implementing acts, placing the expected rollout across the EU by late 2026.

Throughout 2025, the European Commission has continued to issue implementing regulations defining the wallet’s technical architecture, certification procedures, and security requirements. The framework embeds privacy-by-design, data minimisation, and user consent principles, ensuring data remains under user control and stored locally on the user’s device.

Pilot projects launched between 2023 and 2025 have been finalising testing across Member States to validate interoperability, usability, and cross-border functionality. From 2026 onward, public and private entities that require strong electronic identification will be expected to recognise and accept the EUDI Wallet for secure authentication and digital transactions across the EU.

Many digital ID schemes operate based on super-secure passwords and/or mobile apps confirmed by a second factor, either passwords or one-time token or biometric factors such as fingerprints.

Digital ID in Europe has been proliferating rapidly in recent years. To date, both the nature of these schemes and their application have varied widely – for example, BankIDs in the Nordics being used to support instant payments and the delivery of harmonised government services.

Estonia is recognised as one of the most digitally advanced societies in the world. 99% of government services are available online, and as of 2023, 51% of citizens engage in e-voting and 99% of Estonian residents have an ID-card. Estonia is the first and only country in the world with nation-wide internet voting. By 2023, 51% voters have preferred internet voting in local, parliamentary, and European parliament elections. A secure QR code based mobile application is used to ensure that each vote is correctly received by the National Electoral Committee server. Estonia has officially reached 100% of government services digitalised as of December 2024. In the EU’s 2025 “Digital Decade Country Report” for Estonia, the key indicator for “digital public services for citizens” is reported at 96.1% for 2024.

Services available include Smart-ID, a free app which allows access to e-services including government and banking services. It eliminates the need for passwords and codes. Signatures given with Smart-ID are legally binding, recognised in all EU states and have the same legal effect as handwritten signatures. There were more than 730,000 Smart-ID users in 2024, and the Smart-ID app user base grew to 3,274,621.

As such, Estonian banks have begun phasing out PIN code cards in favour of smart-iD authentication for payments. In 2019, Swedbank Estonia ceased issuance of code cards in favour of strong authentication methods such as Smart ID, which has become the dominant identification mean for its customers.

Veriff is an Estonian ID verification and KYC platform, which is powered by AI and uses a video-first solution. The company was founded in 2015 and is used in over 190 countries.

In June 2021, Veriff partnered with Monese to provide enhanced and secure digital banking services for consumers across Europe. With this partnership, Veriff is adding an extra layer of safety and security to the mobile money app. Through this partnership, Veriff will onboard and authenticate the identity of Monese users to help the company meet KYC requirements, increasing the speed and accuracy of user screening while also preventing identity fraud. With the integration of Veriff’s AI-powered, video-first IDV solution, Monese will be able to focus on their main business priorities knowing that user authentication and trust remains intact.

As of 2025, Veriff is globally recognized for its fraud prevention capabilities, winning the “Overall Fraud Prevention Solution Provider of the Year” award at the 2025 CyberSecurity Breakthrough Awards. A highlight is Veriff’s Proof of Address (PoA) solution, which quickly verifies user addresses from thousands of document types across 230+ countries, accelerating onboarding while ensuring compliance with KYC and customer due diligence requirements.

The Veriff-Monese partnership continues to provide secure digital onboarding for Monese’s mobile banking customers across Europe. Veriff’s integration helps Monese meet stringent KYC laws with fast, accurate user authentication, reducing fraud risk and enabling focus on user experience and growth. Monese has also upgraded its backend core banking platform to enhance its infrastructure and service capabilities alongside this partnership.

Moreover, Veriff is actively combating emerging threats such as AI-driven deepfake frauds through multi-layered verification approaches combining biometric, behavioral, and device analytics with human oversight. This is crucial as fraud tactics evolve rapidly with AI, requiring real-time detection systems that Veriff specializes in.

eID platform initiative – In May 2017, a group of European companies including banks, vehicle manufacturers and technology providers signed a “corresponding declaration of intent” to establish a joint, pan-industry platform that will let their customers use a so-called “master key” for registration and identification when accessing online services across a range of sectors including government, aviation and retail.

Biometric Authentication Services

As a form of digital identity, biometric factors have been gaining ground across Europe in recent years, especially since the EU mandated their use for national ID cards and passports from August 2021.

In the payments industry, European banks and other account servicing payment service providers (ASPSPs) have started to support new biometrics technology companies that will develop client identification and authentication systems. They will be dedicated to the research and development of software for the digital verification and authentication of personal identity, through facial, voice, image or document recognition, or fingerprint reading.

With the EU regulator’s decision to mandate Strong Customer Authentication (SCA) as part of the revised payment services directive, PSD2, biometric authentications look set to grow further in importance as part of the payments landscape.

Companies such as Sweden’s Fingerprints (for online payment ID) and the UK’s Fingopay (for physical payments) have pioneered their use in P2P and P2B transactions, while some national ID schemes such as BankID in the Nordics and nemID now include biometric factors alongside PIN in their log-in processes.

Fingerprints (Sweden): Continues to lead development of biometric sensors, especially for fingerprint-enabled payment cards and mobile devices in Europe, supporting both remote (online) payment ID and card-based transactions since 2025.​

Fingopay (UK): Specialises in-vein recognition systems for physical payments, with deployments in retail, hospitality, and transport, pioneering biometric authentication for point-of-sale transactions and peer-to-peer (P2P) settings.​

National ID Schemes: Nordic BankID services (Sweden, Norway) and Denmark’s NemID (transitioning to MitID) now commonly offer biometric log-in options—such as face and fingerprint authentication—alongside traditional PIN/password, used for identification in financial, public, and private sector services.

Biometric Authentication in European Payments

Additional Trends and Initiatives for 2025

Mastercard Identity Check – Mastercard launched Identity Check in October 2016, pioneering biometric authentication for online card payments across much of Europe.​ 3D Secure (EMV 3DS) is the framework enabling these secure authentications, often using SMS codes, push approvals, or biometrics (fingerprint/face).​

Since 2024, Mastercard has expanded Identity Attribute Verification services, integrating them with new European Digital Identity Wallet pilot programs. This supports not only consumer-to-merchant payments but also richer identity checks (age, address), further reducing friction without compromising security.​

Today, 2-factor authentication for Mastercard payments may use one-time codes, fingerprint/face recognition in mobile apps, and sometimes dedicated hardware or behavioural biometrics, complying with PSD2’s Strong Customer Authentication (SCA) mandate.​

Mastercard Identity Check (EMV 3-D Secure) is supported in all European Economic Area (EEA) countries, the United Kingdom, and most other European markets, along with global acceptance in North America, APAC, and Latin America through Mastercard’s international network.​

For Europe specifically, this means Mastercard Identity Check is available in at least 30 countries (all EEA states plus the UK, Switzerland, and several others). The number continues to grow with compliance expansion and global merchant adoption.

In September 2020, a pan-Baltic survey from Swedbank found that Estonians trust biometric identification, fingerprint or facial recognition as the most convenient and secure way to use mobile banking. The survey showed that approximately 49%of smartphone owners in Estonia use biometric identification.

In March 2020, iProov announced that its facial authentication technology was the first to achieve international digital identity conformance certification and has gone live in Estonia’s state-certified digital identity program. This new application combines the NFC capabilities of smartphones and biometric passports and identity cards to create an integrated user experience as well as optimal security.

In 2019 Swedbank’s customers also increasingly started to cross-use biometrics as an identification method, in tandem with the launch of its mobile app. During 2020, Swedbank Estonia launched biometric authentication in its internet bank, allowing customers to log in as well as confirm payments using either fingerprint recognition or Face ID. According to the bank, customers have quickly adopted and started to use this authentication method.

Banking Sector

Eesti Pank (EP) acts as the national central bank and Finantinspeksioon (FI) is the financial supervision authority. The legal framework in which Estonian financial institutions and companies operate is based on EU directives and Estonian banking laws.

Despite falling into a deep recession in 2009, when the economy contracted by 15%, Estonia managed to rein in public spending and maintain exchange rate stability. EU finance ministers agreed in June 2010 to approve the country for euro membership from January 1 2011, as the Eurosystem’s 17th member.

Consolidation has been a feature of the Estonian market, with 56 banks ceasing to operate over the period 1990-2004, according to Eesti Pank. Since 2001, the Baltic countries have been the fastest-growing EU economies.

The COVID-19 pandemic in 2020 was initially forecasted to lead to a fall of 10% in GDP, however, the virus did not cause as much disruption as was expected in Estonia, allowing restrictions on economic activity to be removed and the economy to be quickly restarted. The Estonian economy shrank by 2.9% for 2020 as a whole, one of the smallest falls in Europe overall.  Inflation dropped by 0.4% over the year, mostly due to falling energy prices.

According to Eesti Pank data, the relaxation of pandemic restrictions and increased consumer confidence led to GDP growth of 8.3% in the Estonian economy, one of the fastest recovery rates in the euro area. Consumer prices rose by 4.6% in 2021, though by the end of the year, the rate of inflation had reached 12.2%, due to global supply chain issues and rising energy costs pushing up prices.

In 2022, contrary to expectations, GDP contracted 1.3% due to the effect of Russia’s invasion of Ukraine on import prices and the trade balance. This poor performance extended into 2023 on the back of high inflation, tightening financing conditions, and subdued economic growth in major trade partner economies. Annual inflation worsened to 19.4% in 2022 as the economy reeled from Russia’s invasion of Ukraine.

In 2023, Estonia’s economy contracted by 3% due to high inflation eroding real household incomes and pushing production costs for businesses higher. Inflation softened to 9.16% in 2023 due to stabilising energy prices and ECB’s monetary policy measures. The economy contracted further in 2024 with GDP growth at -0.3% due to weak exports and a drag in domestic investment and consumption.

On 4 November 2014, the European Central Bank (ECB), via the Single Supervisory Mechanism (SSM), assumed the responsibility of supervising the financial stability of banks operating within the euro zone. However, while the ECB has final supervisory authority over all banks operating within the euro zone, it will only directly supervise those banks classified as ‘significant’ under the terms of the SSM (by July 2025, 114 significant banking groups have been recognised). All other ‘less significant’ banks continue to be supervised by Finantinspeksioon.

Structure

By end-2024, there were 13 commercial banks resident in Estonia. Additionally, there were four branches of foreign banks. Cross border banking services can also be provided in Estonia by more than 468 other financial institutions from the European Union. Scania and Danske Bank Estonia Branch terminated their operations in Estonia in 2019, while authorisation to operate as a credit institution was issued to Holm Bank, a family-owned Estonian bank.

During 2020, the Estonian Financial Services Authority, Finantsinspektsioon, cancelled the operating licence of one bank and banned the operations in Estonia of the branch of another. Versobank had its licence withdrawn by the ECB in 2018 and Finantsinspektsioon withdrew the licence of Danske Bank’s Estonia branch in 2020. Handelsbanken exited Estonia in late 2020.

A significant takeover also took place in 2020, when Estonia’s LHV Pank purchased the Estonian non-bank sector loan portfolio of Danske Bank for €273 million.

Cross-border banking services were provided in Estonia by more than 300 financial institutions from the EU.

As of 2024, Estonian banks served over 2.1 million private and 0.33 million business clients through more than 58 bank branches.

Based on Eesti Pank figures, foreign banks control 100% of Estonia’s banking assets. Although still dominant, the Scandinavian banks’ market share has reduced following Danske Bank’s decision to exit the Baltic States in April 2018, after a long-running money-laundering scandal uncovered in 2015, resulted in sanctions and dismissals at the bank. The ownership structures of the Estonian banks are tightly connected with the Nordic countries, as a large part of the sector is owned by Nordic financial groups. A smaller share of the financial sector is owned by Estonian residents, but this share has increased in the past five years. All payment institutions are Estonian-owned.

The assessment from the data for the end of 2020 led Eesti Pank to define 4 credit institutions as systemically important in 2021, these being Swedbank, SEB Pank, Luminor, and LHV Pank.

As in other Baltic countries, Swedish banks dominate the Estonian market. Swedbank and SEB respectively acquired the two biggest Estonian banks, Hansabank and Ühispank, during the 1990s. Both were rebranded, as Swedbank and SEB Baltic, in late 2008 and 2009. The banking market in Estonia continues to be dominated by two Swedish subsidiaries, SEB and Swedbank, whose assets make up a total of 43.0% of the local banking sector without branches abroad. The importance of other banks has also increased in recent years, and the biggest of those are one with at least 60% US participation.

Luminor Bank, Swedbank, and SEB together control 71.9% of total Estonian banking assets, and the largest four banks control 86.0% as of end-2024. The biggest change in the Estonian banking market in recent years, apart from the creation of Luminor, has been the growth in the market share of smaller banks and some reduction in the concentration of the sector. The 3 largest banks had around 85% of the total assets of the sector in 2019, but this had come down to 75% by the end of 2022 as the smaller banks grew strongly. The concentration in the Estonian banking sector remains among the highest in Europe though, because the market is small. In 2022, The assets of the banks together with those of the branches of foreign banks were around 134% of GDP in 2022, and they were 104% without the branches

Other banks include Bigbank Pank, Coop Bank and LHV Pank, the biggest privately-owned Estonian bank. In January 2017, the sole cooperative retail group in Estonia, Coop Eesti, and Inbank (EST) acquired a majority stake in Eesti Krediidipank. The bank became rebranded as Coop Pank. In October 2017, Nordea Pank and DNB Pank merged to become Luminor Bank.

In October 2021, OP Corporate Bank’s Baltic subsidiaries in Estonia, Latvia and Lithuania merged into their parent company OP Corporate Bank through a cross-border subsidiary merger.

In March 2018, Versobank, suspected of money laundering, was closed down overnight. Versobank’s inadequacies were long-term and systemic, and the bank failed to liquidate them even after the regulator’s intervention. Moreover, they were involved in illegal banking operations in Latvia and submitted misleading information to the supervisor. Since Versobank was a small actor even in the Estonian market, its disappearance had no major effect on Estonia’s financial system.

1 - Main Estonian Banks (2024)
BankOwnershipAssets (€bn)Market share
Luminor BankBlackstone (US): 80.05%, DNB Group (N): 19.95%15.8228.11%
SwedbankSwedbank (S)15.5927.70%
SEB PankSEB Group (S)9.0616.09%
LHV PankPrivate Investors & their investment companies: 99.97%; Institutions: 0.03%7.9214.07%
Bigbank PankTwo private investors (EST): 50%+50%2.774.93%
Coop PankCoop Investments: 22%, Coop Eesti: 19%, Others: 59%2.183.88%
InbankCofi (EST): 23.66, Others: 76.341.352.40%
Pohjola BankOP-Pohjola Group (FI)0.841.50%
Citadele PankCitadele Bank (LV)0.350.63%
Tallinna Äripank (TBB)Leonarda Invest (EST): 44.47%, Others: 55.53%0.050.09%
other banks: Holm, Folke, TF.various0.350.61%
Total assets (13 banks)56.27100.00%
Note: Handelsbanken exited Estonia in late 2020.
Note: on 1 October 2019, Danske exited Estonia
Source: Estonian Bank Association.

Swedbank – Through its acquisitions in neighbouring Latvia and Lithuania, Swedbank has responsibility for Swedbank group subsidiaries in the Baltics. It acquired Ventspils UBB in Latvia in April 2000 and Lithuanian Savings Bank, the country’s largest retail bank, in May 2001.

As Hansabank, Swedbank became the largest Estonian bank after its merger with Hoiupank, the Estonian savings bank, and also has subsidiaries in Latvia and Lithuania. The merger of Tallinna Pank and Uhispank (Union Bank) created the second largest banking group (Eesti Ühispank – Union Bank of Estonia). Hansabank’s retail market share in Estonia has historically been more than 50% of retail deposits and retail loans.

Swedbank has claimed market leadership in the Baltics as a whole in branches, retail deposits and retail lending. At end-2024, it had 3.6 million private Baltic customers and 303,000 corporate customers with 4 million cards in circulation and a network of 72 branches across the three states. In Estonia, Swedbank had more than 0.9 million private customers,129,000 corporate customers, and 15 branches as at end-2024. The bank reported around 1.1 million cards in 2024 in Estonia.

Swedbank has invested heavily in internet banking in the three Baltic states. Its internet customers in Estonia at end-2010 were 75% of the active customer base, an exceptional proportion. Taking all three Baltic states, it had 2.5 million digitally active customers at end-2024. In February 2021, Swedbank established a Baltic holding company headquartered in Riga, Latvia, where ownership of the current subsidiary banks in Estonia, Latvia, and Lithuania was placed.

2 - Swedbank in Estonia
20202021202220232024GR 23/24GR 5YCAGR 5Y
Market share % - deposits51%51%48%45%45%0.00%-10.00%-2.09%
Value (€bn)10.612.1111.6511.7711.770.00%29.22%5.26%
Market share % - lending43%43%42%42%40%-4.76%-9.09%-1.89%
Value (€bn)8.529.119.6410.2810.280.00%24.26%4.44%
Market share % - bank cards61%59%58%57%56%-1.75%-8.20%-1.70%
Bank cards issued (000s)9229179311,0811,0890.74%13.79%2.62%
Note: in 2020 around 90% of lending was on mortgages.
Source: Swedbank.
3 - Swedbank in the Baltics 2024
EstoniaLatviaLithuaniaTotal
Market share - private deposits %45%40%45%-
Market share - private lending %40%36%39%-
Private customers (m)0.91.01.73.6
Digitally active customers (m)0.60.71.22.5
Cards issued (m)1.11.11.83.9
Branches15193872
ATMs372362405 1,139
Note: digitally active customers are those that have made at least 3 log-ins in the last month.
Source: Swedbank.

SEB Pank – The Baltic operations of SEB Group are managed by its Lithuanian subsidiary. SEB Pank served over 725,000 customers in 2024 through 14 branch offices, 205 ATMs, and 10,020 POS terminals.

Danske Pank, previously Sampo Pank, was the Estonian branch of Danske Bank Group (DK). Activities in Estonia included banking, wealth management and leasing. It had 100,000 customers serviced in 4 branches as at end-2017, of whom 75,000 were e-banking customers. Danske Pank launched its mobile banking service in Estonia in mid-2014. In April 2018, Danske Bank confirmed its gradual exit of the Baltic market, opting to focus exclusively on serving subsidiaries of Nordic customers as well as global corporations with significant presence in the Nordics. As of 1 October 2019, Danske Bank confirmed it had ceased all operations in Estonia.

Nordea Pank, previously Merita Pank, had been the Estonian branch of Nordea Group (S). It reported 131,000 household customers in Estonia as at end-2016, of whom 122,000 were active internet banking customers. In February 2012, Nordea Pank launched its mobile banking service available for smartphones.

DNB Pank had been the Estonian branch of DNB Bank (N).

Luminor Bank – In September 2016, DNB Group (N) and Nordea Group (S) agreed to combine their operations in Estonia, Latvia and Lithuania creating a leading bank in the Baltics with strong Nordic roots. Nordea’s and DNB’s Baltic operations had €8 billion and €5 billion in assets, respectively.

Until closing of the transaction, both banking groups in the Baltics continued to operate as separate entities. In September 2017, DNB and Nordea received unconditional clearance from the European Commission.

In October 2017, Nordea Bank and DNB bank combined their operations in the Baltic region. The joint venture was renamed as Luminor Bank. The merger positioned Luminor Bank as a top three player in the Baltic banking market with a 16% market share in deposits and 23% of the lending market.

At its launch, Luminor was owned by Nordea Group (56%) and the Norwegian DNB Group (44%). In September 2018, private equity investor Blackstone agreed to acquire a 60% stake in Luminor Bank for a total of $1 billion. Both Nordea Group and DNB Bank retained a 20% stake, respectively. On 30 September 2019 it was announced that the transaction signed in 2018 between DNB, Nordea and Blackstone had been concluded and as a result a consortium led by private equity funds managed by Blackstone acquired a 60.1% majority stake in the bank.

Luminor completed its cross-border merger in January 2019 and continues its operations in all three Baltic countries through the bank headquartered in Estonia and its branches in Latvia and Lithuania. The bank continues its activities in Latvia and Lithuania through its locally established branches. The consequence of this was that the Estonian banking sector became much larger. The assets of the Estonian banking sector at the end of 2020 were around 1.5 times larger than they were at the end of 2015 and were an estimated 164% of GDP.

In 2019, following the sale of its stake in Luminor, Nordea signed a forward sale agreement with Blackstone to sell its remaining 20% stake in Luminor Bank. In December 2021, Blackstone acquired 8.45% of Luminor from Nordea. In September 2022, Blackstone acquired Nordea’s remaining 11.6% interest. As a result, Blackstone now owns 80.05% of Luminor, and DNB will continue to own the remaining 19.95% and this stayed the same as of the end of 2022.

In January 2022, Luminor acquired 99% of Maksekeskus, an e-commerce payment service provider in the Baltic region. The acquisition is aimed at advancing Luminor’s digital transformation and strengthen its presence in the fast-growing e-commerce payments market.

Maksekeskus was founded in 2012 and serves 2,600 active merchants in Estonia and 500 active merchants in Latvia and Lithuania.

As of 2024, Luminor had four customer service locations in Estonia serving 84,000 customers. The bank had a lending market share of 8.3% and 4.1% deposit market share in Estonia as of December 2024.

Bigbank Pank was established in 1992 in Tartu, Estonia. It specialises in term deposits and consumer loans and operates in Estonia, Latvia, Lithuania, Finland, Spain, Sweden, and Bulgaria, while providing cross-border services on the German, Austrian and Dutch markets. As of 2024, it had two service centres and 167,373 active clients, an increase of 16,600 (+11%) from 2023.

Coop Pank – In January 2017, Retailer Coop Eesti and Inbank (EST) bought Eesti Krediidipank, which was rebranded Coop Pank, and based on Coop’s local networks. Coop Group has around 320 stores in Estonia — including A ja O grocery stores and Maksimarket and Konsum supermarkets.

The aim of the acquisition was to create a new bank with a distinctly different strategy from the banks currently operating in Estonia. Among others, Coop Pank plans to provide cash services at the retail group’s locations. The transaction was made in two stages. As a first step, retailer Coop Eesti acquired the 59.7% stake of VTB Bank (RUS), and Inbank bought nearly 10% of the shares of Krediidipank. Coop Pank then acquired Coop Finants, a joint venture of Coop Eesti and Inbank, and Krediidipank Finants, a subsidiary of Eesti Krediidipank and Inbank. In 2021, the major shareholders of Coop Pank were composed of Coop Investeeringud (24.98%), Andres Sonn (9.32%), CM Capital OÜ (6.80%) and other investors (37%).

In 2021, Coop Pank eliminated payment service fees, launched a free banking plan package, and added free purchase insurance to all Coop Pank’s private customers’ bank cards. By the end of 2024, Coop Pank had 208,000 clients, an increase of 26,000. Of these, 23,000 were private customers and 3,000 were business customers. The number of actively billed clients increased by 15,000 to 82,000 in 2023.

Coop Pank customers can withdraw cash from their bank account free of charge at the cash desks of 330 Coop stores or 15 bank branches. Coop Pank claims to have the largest cash network in Estonia and the best availability of cash.

At the end of May 2019, the supervisory board of Coop Pank ordered the management board to launch activities for preparation of the public listing of the bank’s shares. Coop Pank was publicly listed on the NASDAQ Baltic Main List in December 2019. As of 2022, the bank had over 55,000 bank cards in circulation.

Inbank started operating as a bank in April 2015, offering deposit, loan and Hire Purchase services via its internet bank and a large network of more than 6,000 active retail partners. In 2024, Inbank and its subsidiaries had more than 872,000 active contracts across all its countries of operation – Estonia, Latvia, Lithuania, Poland, and the Czech Republic, as well as depositor accounts from Germany, Austria, Finland, and the Netherlands. Inbank holds 10% of the Baltic consumer finance market share.

In 2020 Inbank launched Inpay, a new-generation payment app with credit card. Inpay is targeted to capitalise on the digital payments trend with its contemporary mobile app complete with Apple Pay and Google Pay. Inpay is the first product in Estonia to give the customer cashback on purchases. Along with the new payment solution, Inbank also launched a 14-gram metal card.

In April 2021, Inpay founded an international pay-later technology company Paywerk with Jan Andresoo, a co-founder of Inbank. In September 2021, Inbank acquired a 30% stake in Paywerk.

Handelsbanken was the Estonian subsidiary of the Swedish bank. It exited Estonia in 2020, citing cost pressures and a refocusing on its core markets in Western Europe.

Digital Challenger Banks

A number of digital challenger banks have entered Estonia, e.g. N26, Revolut and Wise. They already have a clear Open Banking strategy in place.

In parallel, many Estonian banks co-operate and partner with trusted digital payment providers and FinTechs to prepare for the Open Banking ecosystem, enrich their digital banking services, and to offer additional mobile banking app features.

Monese launched in September 2015, founded by Estonian CEO Norris Koppel, and was the first digital mobile bank in the UK following the relocation of its CEO to that country. The start-up offers a mobile banking app for immigrants and expats who might find it difficult to open a bank account outside of their originating country – without the need of having a local address or credit history. Customers can open an instant bank account in under three minutes, get a current account interface, including a bank account number, low-cost international money transfers, and a VISA Debit card. Clients can also make cash deposits and withdrawals, and store money in multiple currencies.

By 2021, the company claimed to have over 2 million customers in 31 countries, and Monese stated that 70% of incoming customer money came from salary payments. In September 2021, Monese announced the launch of its Platform as a Service business. In September 2022, HSBC Ventures announced a $35 million investment in Monese as part of a strategic partnership. The investment brings the total raised by Monese to $208 million. In April 2024, HSBC “completely impaired” its remaining $5.86 million stake in Monese. HSBC has fully written off its investment in Monese by October 2024, just 2 years after investing $35 million.

In October 2024, UK-based fintech company Pockit acquired Monese’s consumer banking business. This strategic move aims to enhance financial services for underserved populations, combining Monese’s digital banking expertise with Pockit’s focus on financial inclusion.

Pocopay – In February 2016, the Estonian banking app Pocopay was launched with the goal of becoming a mobile finance app for young and innovative people in Europe. PocoPay allows customers to open and run a bank account from their smartphone. PocoPay launched in the Netherlands, Spain, Finland and its home country of Estonia to let consumers split bills, request money using email addresses or QR-codes and make contactless mobile payments via a Debit Mastercard card. Pocopay was the first player in the Estonian market to introduce biometric factors as part of the ID process in 2017.

In January 2020, Pocopay’s parent company Pocosys was acquired by internet browser provider Opera, which claims over 50 million monthly active users in Europe. With these acquisitions, Tallinn became Opera’s second European hub for fintech services, following Gothenburg, Sweden.

However, as of June 5, 2024, Pocopay officially shut down its services, including its Power Account, Debit Card, and mobile app. Customers were asked to transfer funds and close accounts before that date. This marked the end of Pocopay’s 10-year operation as a standalone mobile payment service provider.

Modularbank was established in Estonia in 2019, offering retail and business banking through its API-first banking platform, which enables customers to pick and remove services as they go along. Although it does not have a banking licence, Modularbank enables companies to launch digital financial services to their customers.  In December 2020, it closed a funding round of €4 million. In September 2021, Modularbank rebranded as Tuum.

In October 2021, LHV and Tuum entered into a partnership, under which Tuum gained access to LHV’s services, such as the opportunity to provide customers with real-time pound and euro payments, virtual IBANs, currency exchange accounts, and currency exchange transactions. In March 2022, LHV selected the Tuum platform as the core system for its new bank currently developed in the UK. In mid-2022, LHV Group announced an investment worth €1 million in Tuum.

In February 2024, Tuum secured €25 million in a Series B financing round led by CommerzVentures, with participation from Speedinvest and existing investors. This funding aims to enhance Tuum’s product offerings and support its expansion into Central and Southern Europe, as well as the Middle East. In March 2024, Tuum received a strategic investment of an undisclosed amount from Citi Ventures in a Series B follow-on round.

Digital Banking

All Estonian retail banks offer online banking services and mobile banking apps to their clients. Services available include balance and transaction reporting and payment initiation. According to Eurostat, 83% of all Estonian bank clients were e-banking users by end-2024, and 99% of all banking transactions are done online.

Mobile banking in Estonia enables all typical banking transactions, including local and international payments, as well as checking of account balance and transaction history at any moment. Also, it offers a currency converter and helps locating the nearest bank office or ATM. Additional functionalities include real time share price monitoring and savings calculator.

There is no bank-independent electronic banking standard in Estonia; each bank offers its own proprietary system for its banking purposes. E-bill presentment is available via the arved.ee portal.

Due to regulatory changes in 2017, opening a bank account is now possible online using e‑ID or e-Residency card, a video interview recording and facial recognition technology.

Mobile banking apps with added mobile money transfer services include PayPal.

In December 2017, Swedbank signed an agreement with MeaWallet for delivery of technology for contactless card payments on the Latvian, Lithuanian and Estonian market. The HCE technology with Mastercard MDES support will be delivered as a managed service, integrating MeaWallet´s tokenisation platform with Swedbank’s mobile banking application. The solution will enable Swedbank clients to perform digital contactless card payments through the bank´s existing mobile banking application.

In 2019, SEB reported that clients were more actively using digital services, with the remote opening of SME accounts increasing by 9% from 2018. Corporate customers can meet with their client executives via video meeting. The bank also launched a mobile app which gained up to 4,000 clients monthly, achieving by the end of 2019 a record number of 140,000 users. In 2021, nearly 37% of SMEs used remote opening of accounts. Over 86% of SEB customers used internet bank services in 2022. No update was provided for 2023 and 2024.

In terms of digital development, SEB opened another Innovation Centre in April 2020. The first SEB Innovation Centre in Estonia was opened in Tallinn in 2017. In 2020, altogether 18 ideas were developed together with business clients in the SEB Innovation Centre.

Interest in remotely available services remained high in 2022. In Estonia, the number of SEB mobile app users grew to over 220,000 and digital banking services expanded further, including the ability to open accounts via video meetings, alongside daily banking activities. During 2022, nearly 10,000 video meetings were held. In early 2021, an AI-driven investing customer service assistant, Robo-Advisor, was introduced in SEB mobile app, which is unique in the Baltic countries. As Robo-Advisor is advising thousands of customers at the same time, there is no need to book time or wait in the queue. In 2021, over 2,600 customers began investing with the help of Robo-Advisor. By 2022, SEB Robo-Advisor has already been used by more than 100,000 customers. In 2024, the bank reported that there were 36% more new users of Robo-Advisor than in 2023.

During 2020, Swedbank Estonia launched biometric authentication in its internet bank, allowing customers to log in as well as confirm payments using either fingerprint recognition or Face ID. According to the bank, customers have quickly adopted and started to use this authentication method.

Swedbank Estonia also launched several new payment solutions in 2020, including Google Pay to enable card payments for customers using selected Android devices. Swedbank Estonia also introduced Alias (also known as Proxy) payments, where the user’s phone number is linked to their bank account, facilitating real-time transfers with the help of recipient’s phone number.

Since its launch at the end of 2009, the digital bank of Swedbank in Estonia has gained nearly 0.5 million digitally active users, with its share of sales in digital channels standing at 81.4% in 2021.

As of December 2024, Swedbank Estonia reported about 0.9 million private customers, 129,000 corporate customers, and 592,063 (+2.75% from 2023) digitally active customers. The share of sales in digital channels fell to 84.3% in 2024 from 85.2% in 2023.

During 2021, following the pandemic, the shift towards digital services accelerated with Swedbank Estonia improving availability of digital channels, including the launch of an advisory service by video call for private as well as corporate customers. It also continued developing and launching customised offerings based on customer data in its mobile app. Swedbank Estonia’s customers now can receive various customised offerings and communication messages based on their life events, e.g. birthdays.

Following the launches of Garmin Pay and Fitbit Pay in 2020, Swedbank Estonia further expanded the range of supported digital wallets by offering Xiaomi Pay, allowing customers to make contactless payments also using Xiaomi smartwatch.

Luminor’s new internet bank and digital channels were launched in Q4 2020 for Luminor customers in Estonia. During 2020, Luminor launched its mobile app, which included new messaging functionality. By 2023, the bank reported that more customers continue to make active use of our payment cards and digital wallets, with e-wallet usage at close to 35%.

During 2020, Luminor supported the migration of legacy Nordea customers in Latvia and Lithuania to its common banking platform, and all customers in Estonia to a new banking platform and new digital channels. Remote customer onboarding was first launched in Latvia and extended to Lithuania and Estonia. By the end of 2020, four out of 10 customers were onboarded remotely. By the end-2022, More than 60% of new customers chose to join Luminor through remote onboarding. Luminor launched its e-commerce Gateway for Mass Business customers in all three Baltic states. The e-commerce gateway provides card acquiring services for accepting VISA and Mastercard and uses the Open Banking application programming interfaces (APIs) of major banks to allow account-to-account payments to be acquired.

During 2021, Luminor expanded its digital offering and introduced digital wallets including Apple Pay. It also continued technological development with a new agreement with Kyndryl and signed a contract with Worldline to unify and upgrade its ATM network. In 2021, Luminor consolidated distribution channels, redesigned customer digital journeys, launched digital application signing and enabled remote onboarding of customers. Luminor’s active customer base increased by six percentage points over 2021. Luminor’s digital development included scaling up its e-commerce gateway service and continued to enhance e-commerce acquiring capabilities. In December 2021, Luminor introduced Google Pay, Apple Pay, Garmin Pay, and Fitbit Pay, with some 22,000 active cards added immediately. By the end of 2022, more than 63,000 customers have started to use Apple Pay and Google Pay. In 2022, Luminor also launched a new offering for our card users with the Safety+ service, which lets our customers protect their card if it is stolen, lost, or used for fraudulent payments. The service is already used by close to 200,000 of card users by end-2022.

About Open API Standards

In June 2017, The Berlin Group, the European payments interoperability coalition of banks and payment processors with membership comprising bank backed ACHs and industry bodies, announced it would push a single standard for API access to bank accounts (XS2A) compliant with the PSD2 regulation.

The Berlin Group says its NextGenPSD2 Initiative provides a harmonised API standard for accessing bank accounts. Built as an ‘Access to Account Framework’, The Berlin Group says the standard offers operational rules and implementation guidelines with detailed data definitions, message modelling and information flows based on RESTful API methodology.

As of the beginning of 2021, the Berlin Group NextGenPSD2 was implemented in all EU countries, in several non-EU countries in Europe, and in countries outside Europe that are focused on maintaining reachability and compatibility with the European market. Around 80% of European banks and hundreds of third-party providers (TPPs) have implemented the Berlin Group NextGenPSD2 Framework. In 2021, the group was migrated to the Open Finance task force to explore use cases of Open Banking schemes and Open Finance schemes.

Among others, European Open API sets include Open Banking UK, Swiss Corporate API, and STET Open API (F, B).

There are several important updates and recent details to add regarding Open API standards and Open Banking in Europe and Belgium. As of 2024, the Berlin Group, along with other standardisation initiatives, has significantly advanced Open API and Open Finance frameworks, resulting in broader industry adoption and interoperability.​

Berlin Group and OpenFinance API Framework

European Open API Sets and Industry Expansion

These developments mark a transition from PSD2-driven access to a much wider Open Finance landscape, with almost universal bank API implementation, extensive support for business and consumer account types, and expanding services enabling secure, data-driven payments and financial innovations across Belgium and greater Europe.

In April 2021, Nordic API Gateway announced it would rebrand as Aiia to reflect the company’s pan-European focus of delivering Open Banking. Nordic API Gateway builds APIs for third parties, enabling access to account data and A2A payments for more than 240 million Europeans through more than 2,000 banks. Aiia currently serves companies, including Danske Bank, DNB, OP Financial Group, Svea Payments, Pleo, Lunar, and Santander Consumer Bank.

Most of the largest banks have active Open Banking developer portals that provide regulated access to account information. As of 2024, there were nine banks and account providers offering Open Banking in Estonia, along with seven third-party providers, 20 bank APIs in usage, and 19 API aggregators. In September 2021, Aiia was acquired by Mastercard to extend its Open Banking reach.

Payment Services

In Estonia, the law on payment services adopted the EU payment services directive (PSD) and the EU interchange fee regulation (IFR). Estonia has also adopted the new PSD2 as of September 2019.

In 2025, the more than 300 different payment services offered in Europe can be grouped into:

Card Brands and Card Types

At present, there is no national debit card scheme in Estonia, and all retail banks issue debit cards and credit cards with one of the Mastercard or VISA brands. The EMV migration of cards is complete since the end of 2010.

Estonian card products like consumer cards, commercial cards and purchasing cards, range from classic cards to gold cards and platinum cards. Additional card features (e.g. picture cards, bonus points, PIN selection at ATMs, cashback, card control by SMS notification and geo blocking) are used to attract cardholders. Also, individual picture cards and collector cards are issued on demand.

From July 2023, banks and other card issuers will no longer issue Maestro cards. Instead they will need to issue Debit Mastercard. Maestro was launched in 1991 and was the world’s first debit card that could be used via an online network. About 400 million Maestro cards are in circulation worldwide, mainly across Europe. However, Maestro is not enabled for the demands of e-commerce and cannot be used for online or in-app payments, hence the decision to phase it out in favour of Mastercard Debit products. Visa announced that Electron cards will be phased out globally in 2024. The features of the Visa Debit card have been modified to match the features of the Visa Electron card.

Debit cards issued are VISA Debit, and Debit Mastercard cards. There are no V PAY cards in issue.

Credit Cards issued are cards branded VISA and. Mastercard. There are no JCB, Diners Club or American Express cards in issue. Nearly all credit cards have a credit function, and there are only a few delayed debit cards.

Prepaid Cards – All Estonian banks issue prepaid cards and virtual cards for e-commerce use.

Co-branded cards – In Estonia, only a few co-branded card products are in circulation. Co-branded cards are based on the international card brands Mastercard, VISA or Electron.

Estonian banks issuing co-branded cards together with their non-bank partners include Swedbank, SEB Pank and a few others.

Contactless Cards and form-factors

As of 2025, all banks in Estonia issue contactless cards.

Predefined contactless limits – Contactless payments for purchases below a predefined limit are without PIN or signature and without transaction receipt. In Estonia, from October 2017, the contactless limit for payments without PIN/signature was set at €25 for cards with PayPass or payWave function (previously the limit had been €10). In March 2020, in response to the COVID-19 pandemic, the limit was raised to €50 to encourage more non-cash transactions.

In 2019, contactless payments represented 32% of all card payments made in Estonia, and they were supported by 87% of payment terminals. Altogether 77% of bank cards issued in Estonia include the contactless payment option. Around 85% of payments were made within the previous limit of €25. With the higher limit of €50, it would allow for 95% of card payments to be carried out without contact.

According to Eesti Pank, as of December 2024, 2,137,980 contactless cards had been issued in Estonia, 22.1% of which were classed as non-active. By September 2025, the number of contactless cards had risen to 2,155,468, with 22.2% classed as non-active.

All terminals are capable of handling contactless payments. 78% of the card payments made in Estonia in the Q1 2025 were contactless.

There are increasing numbers of cardholders who do not use plastic cards for payments. Digital wallets and mobile phones, smartwatches, and smart rings were used for 16.5% of card payments in Estonia in Q1 2023 which is 8% more than in Q1 2022. Estonian residents use digital wallets even more frequently abroad, as they were used for 1 in 4 of all card payments made in Q1, which is 12% more than in Q1 2022.

Interchange Fee Arrangements

International and Intra European Non-EEA Interchange Fees are set by the members of the international card schemes to be applied in case of cross-border transactions or foreign cards used in Estonia, respectively.

In Estonia, the domestic Merchant Interchange Fee (DMIF) rates for Estonian cards are regulated by Mastercard and Visa, in line with the EU Interchange Fee Regulation (2015/751/EU). The interchange fee regulation 2015/751/EU also applies for Estonian card business.

Current Interchange Fee Caps in Estonia (2025)

These caps have been in place since the EU regulation took effect on June 8, 2015, aimed at reducing costs to merchants and increasing transparency and competition in the payments market. Estonia adheres to these caps strictly, promoting low-cost and efficient payment processing.

American Express – As a result of the EU regulation of interchange fees (IFR), American Express elected to exit all of its bank licensing arrangements in the European Union. This means that they have terminated all licenses with its existing EU partners, stopped issuing new cards and are in the final stages of the process of closing down all operations directly related to bank licensing. Over the course of 2019, American Express credit cards issued under independent operator agreements were rendered invalid in all countries of the European Union. Various banks that have up to now had exclusive licensing contracts with American Express have already responded accordingly and provided their clients with the opportunity to switch to other card brands.

From 2020, American Express Payments Europe is now the sole issuer and acquirer of American Express cards in Europe, including Estonia. However, American Express Payments Europe continues its local sales partner arrangements with local acquirers enabling the use of American Express cards at ATMs and POS terminals.

E-Money 

In Estonia, the law on e-money services has adopted the e-money directive of the EU (EMD).

According to Finantinspeksioon, in 2024, there were three Estonian e-money institutions licensed by Eesti Panki. Finantsinspektsioon withdrew authorisations from three payment institutions in 2019.

Software-based e-money e-/m-wallet services are offered by international payment service providers and e-wallet issuers from the EEA region, primarily the UK. They provided notification of operating in Estonia under the EU passport system, and number approximately 235 institutions in total.

Prepaid Products – paysafecard (A) entered Estonia and launched its prepaid product, paysafecard.

Digital Account-to-Account Payment Services 

In the Yearbooks, account-based payment services are classified as IBAN-based payment services in SCT/SDD format offered by banks or by independent payment initiation service providers (PISP).

Credit transfers are used for high-value corporate and low-value retail payment transactions. Credit transfers are used by the government and companies for salary, supplier, and benefit payments.

SEPA credit transfers (SCT) can be initiated via electronic banking systems, the telephone and online. Estonia is a part of the SEPA initiative for EUR-denominated retail payments. On 1 February 2014, SEPA credit transfers replaced all previous credit transfer schemes in Estonia. All Estonian banks participate in the SCT scheme.

Direct debits – On 1 February 2014, Estonia’s domestic direct debit service was replaced by an e-bill standing order payment service. This new service, known as an e-invoice standing order, can be used for low-value recurring payments such as utility bills. On 1 February 2014, SEPA direct debits were introduced in Estonia as a separate cross-border service.

Instant payments (SCTINST) is the IBAN-based immediate payment scheme in Europe, officially launched in November 2017. It makes funds immediately available to the beneficiary – compliant with existing SCT infrastructure. The regulators will require all banks to offer Instant Payments from 2018.

Among others, the characteristics of SCTINST include an initial maximum of €15,000 with the funds made available on the beneficiary’s account in less than ten seconds, 24/7/365 real-time processing, and immediate refunds in the case that the SCTINST payment was not successful. From July 2020, the maximum amount for instant payments will be €100,000.

Chaired by the ECB, in 2014, the Euro Retail Payments Board (ERPB) identified the need for a pan-European instant euro payment solution. In April 2016, EBA Clearing started the SCTINST project with more than 40 large European banks involved. In November 2016, the European Payments Council (EPC) published the SCTINST scheme and SCTINST rule books version 1.0 while the ERPB provided the governance model. In November 2017, EBA Clearing completed the pan-European instant payments infrastructure, RT1.

SEPA credit transfers and direct debits can be settled on a same-day or next-day basis. In mid-2025, about 50% of all IBAN-based payments in Europe were processed intra-day, or even immediately inside of the same bank group. Potential first use cases for SCTINST in Estonia may include P2P, mobile banking apps, online payments, and B2B.

As of June 2025, 2,765 banks from 36 European countries had registered for the SCTINST scheme. This represents 78% of all SCT scheme participants.

Eesti Pank monitored and supported the execution in 2020 of the operating plan for instant payments approved a year earlier. At least 90% of all payments were made instantly at the end of 2020. Instant payments are offered by SEB Pank, Swedbank, LHV Pank, Coop Pank, and Citadele Pank, and can be initiated through some e-money and payment institutions operating in Estonia.

Eesti Pank gives its transaction partners access to the payment systems that operate across the Eurosystem. The systems brought together under TARGET Services are TARGET2 for settling interbank payments, T2S for settling securities, TIPS for settling instant payments, and ECMS for collateral management. All the systems allow pan-European cash and securities settlements to be made on accounts opened at central banks. Thirteen banks were using TARGET services in Estonia in December 2022, for whom 13 accounted for settling interbank and real-time customer payments, four accounted for securities settlement, and four accounted for settling instant payments. According to the annual report of Eesti Pank for 2024, the number of participants in the Estonian TARGET services (part of the Eurosystem’s TARGET Services infrastructure) increased to 17 as of December 2024.

Previously, Estonian banks had largely used instant payment systems from the private sector to settle their payments. There was no interoperability between the different instant payment systems, but one goal of the European Commission’s retail payments strategy was to get them to work together by the end of 2021, and so in December 2021 the Estonian banks providing instant payment services joined TIPS, which is still the only system that works together with other payment systems.

As in many European countries, bank transfers have been adopted for online payments, enabling consumers to pay direct from their bank account as an alternative service to payment cards

Foreign payment initiation service providers (PISPs) offering cross-border online credit transfers in the country include Inpay (DK), Trustly (S), and Klarna’s SOFORT (D).

In 2022, Finantinspeksioon reported 12 AISPs licensed in Estonia. Authorised in another EEA member state, 256 cross-border PISPs have provided notification of operating in Estonia under the EU passport system. According to data from the ECB, there were five AISPs and eight PISPSs operating in Estonia in 2024.

Wise (formerly TransferWise) – While living in London, Estonians Hinrikus and Käärmann founded TransferWise, a money transfer service provider, because they were frustrated by the “pain of international money transfer” with its high bank charges and the euro to pound conversions.

Using a peer-to-peer model to get the best rates for consumers, TransferWise quickly grew and now lets people send money to receivers in more than 50 currencies. In the UK, the firm now has a 10% market share, helping it to hit $100 million in annual revenues.

As of its year-end in March 2025, the renamed Wise had 15.6 million (+21%) active customers in total and processed £145.2 billion in transaction volume, an increase of 23%. This growth has been generated by the investments the bank made in its underlying infrastructure, delivering lower fees and faster speeds for customers.

Advanced Payment Services

In the Yearbooks, advanced payment services are classified as online wallets, e-wallets, and/or mobile wallets with any type of payment service chosen by the wallet user to complete the payment.

In selected Estonian online shops, the wallets PayPal and Skrill are offered as payment means.

PayPal – PayPal is widely used in Estonia. As of end-2024, PayPal reported 434 million active customer accounts globally, up 2.1% from 426 million in 2023. This consisted of 398 million customer active accounts and 36 million merchant active accounts across approximately 200 markets. PayPal’s total payment volume increased to $1.68 trillion (up from $1.53 in 2023) and customer engagement grew to an average of 60.6 transactions per active account, driving 3% growth in transactions per active account at the end of 2024.

During 2020, with consumers worldwide embracing digital wallet capabilities, the company launched several related services including QR Code Checkout, Buy Now Pay Later, Crypto purchasing and Xoom direct transfers to bank accounts and debit cards.

In June 2018, PayPal continued its shopping spree with a $400 million cash deal to acquire e-commerce platform Hyperwallet. The acquisition followed deals to buy Venmo, Xoom, Sweden’s iZettle (renamed Zettle) for $2.2 billion and AI-based merchant marketing outfit Jetlore, as Paypal bids to extend its reach to all corners of the payments market.

In May 2022, PayPal Ventures invested in Modulr, an embedded payments platform for digital businesses, as part of a $108 million Series C funding round led by General Atlantic, Blenheim Chalcot, Frog Capital, and Highland Europe. Modulr delivers payments infrastructure for over 200 top-tier customers, including Revolut, Wagestream, Sage and BrightPay, and processes an annualised transaction value of more than £100 billion.

In 2023, PayPal is exploring the sale of Xoom, its international money transfer subsidiary, in a bid to cut costs and focus on high-growth business areas. Also, Stax Payments – an all-in-one payment provider for businesses – announced its partnership with PayPal in July 2023. This partnership will allow PayPal’s users to easily make payments with more than 20,000 merchants of Stax through a fast checkout process as well as new payment options such as Buy-now-pay-later solutions.

In 2023, PayPal launched its own US Dollar denominated stablecoin, PayPal USD (PYUSD), which is fully backed by US dollar deposits, short-term US treasuries, and similar cash equivalents and designed for digital payments and Web3. Eligible US PayPal customers who purchase PayPal USD will be able to transfer the token to external wallets, send person-to-person payments, fund purchases at checkouts supported by PayPal, and convert cryptocurrency holdings to and from PayPal USD.

In January 2024, PayPal launched AI-powered features to drive personalised offerings for both merchants and customers based on the data it possesses. These features include Smart Receipts (for merchants) which predicts what shoppers may want to buy next from the merchant. The merchant can then offer personalised recommendations, and cashback offers on this receipt. A major feature for users is CashPass which will use give users personalised cashback offers based on an AI analysis of their spending activity.

In March 2024, PayPal launched a complete suite of payment processing tools for online small businesses in the UK, Canada, and across more than 20 European markets. The PayPal Complete Payments package enables small businesses to accept an expanded range of payment instruments including PayPal, buy now pay later, Apple Pay, Google Pay, credit and debit cards, and alternative payment methods from around the world. By April 2024, PayPal added new features to its complete payments solution for small businesses to enable small businesses to accept a range of payments including PayPal, Venmo and PayPal Pay Later products. PayPal also gave small businesses access to four new features to help them drive payment acceptance and enhance how they run their business, and this will include Apple Pay as a checkout option.

In 2025, PayPal significantly enhanced its offerings for small businesses by introducing PayPal Open, a unified commerce platform that consolidates all of PayPal’s merchant solutions into a single interface. This platform provides small businesses with access to a comprehensive suite of tools, including payment processing, financial services, and AI-driven insights, all designed to streamline operations and foster growth.

Amazon Pay – was introduced in 2007. The payment service enables Amazon customers to checkout at participating third-party merchant sites using their Amazon credentials.​

Launch Date: Amazon Pay first launched in August 2007 as “Pay with Amazon,” later expanding globally and adding features for third-party merchant acceptance.​

Functionality: All active Amazon customers can use their Amazon credentials for checkout at partnered merchants—Amazon Pay is available in 18 countries as of October 2024.​

Global Usage: Over 50 million customers have used Amazon Pay for purchases worldwide, with a large share coming from Amazon Prime members, but recent statistics indicate over 3.2 billion transactions processed in 2025 and 600,000+ merchants accepting Amazon Pay as of June 2025.​

Prime Share: More than half of Amazon Pay users are Amazon Prime Members, matching your note on demographics.​

Market Impact: By the end of 2025, Amazon Pay accounts for approximately 6% of the global online payment market, processing an estimated $85 billion in payments.​

Expansion: Amazon Pay experienced 20% growth in mobile usage and 13% total transaction growth from 2024 to 2025.​

Merchant Share: SMEs comprise around 70% of all merchants using Amazon Pay.

Digital Payment Services

In the Yearbooks, digital payment services are classified as card-based payment services using EMV tokenisation security on the internet combined with HCE NFC technology in the case of contactless payments at POS terminals.

As of mid-2025, the Click to Pay online payment checkout service was available, replacing the previous MasterPass and VISA Checkout services respectively. Click to Pay is a joint service between Mastercard, Visa, Discover and American Express, enabling consumers to make secure one-click payments without having to enter card details or passwords online.

Contactless payments on cards using Apple Pay, Samsung Pay, or Google Pay (previously Android Pay) made by foreign users at contactless POS terminals in Estonia are processed as payments on contactless cards.

Global contactless transaction values will reach $10 trillion by 2027, up from $4.6 trillion in 2022, with contactless mobile and wearable payments expected to grow by 221% and contactless card payments by 119% over the same period.

Contactless ticketing spend will increase by more than 440% globally between 2022 and 2027, with growing prominence and support for OEM pay solutions, such as Apple Pay, Google Pay and Samsung Pay being a key enabler for mobile NFC ticketing across many markets.

Overall growth in contactless transaction values will be catalysed by growing mobile payments adoption, with 99% of all smartphones capable of making contactless payments by 2027, up from 94% today, and average transaction values for Apple Pay reaching $28.20 and $33.40 for Google Pay.

Apple Pay has become one of the world’s most used digital payment methods. Its user base increased from 521.4 million to 535.8 million in 2022 and now sits at 785 million users worldwide at end 2024.

This payment method is also available in over 85% of US merchants and 60% of stores globally.

As of August 2024, the estimated total Apple Pay in-store sales now sit at $268 billion, up from $213 billion last year.

As of 2023, Apple Pay processed 14.2% of all online consumer payments and 5.6% of all in-store purchases globally, global transaction volume (2025 estimate) is $7.6 trillion.

In the US its Apple Pay users are measured as ~63.9 million (2025 forecast), with in-store U.S. retail sales via Apple Pay sitting at ~$268 billion (as of August 2024).

Putting it all together, Apple Pay is increasingly becoming an effective customer acquisition and retention feature for Apple. In June 2022, Apple Pay added Apple Pay Later, its buy-now-pay-later service, allowing users to split purchases into four equal instalments with no interest or fees. Initially launched in the US, the service is expected to roll out to other countries during 2023. In 2023, Apple launched its Card savings account from Goldman Sachs with a 4.15% annual percentage yield. Apple Wallet users can set up and manage a savings account directly from Apple Card in Wallet, with no fees, no minimum deposits, and no minimum balance requirements.

Apple Pay was launched in Estonia in 2019 and is available at 46 banks and payment service providers as of October 2025.

Google Pay current data shows around 820 million active users across 45 global markets.

In January 2022, it was reported that the company was planning to transform Google Pay into a “comprehensive digital wallet”, following the app’s reported slow growth and the shutdown of Plex. In April, it was reported that Google was planning to revive the “Google Wallet” branding in a new app or interface and integrated with Google Pay. Google officially announced Google Wallet on May 11, 2022, at the 2022 Google I/O keynote. The app began rolling out on Android smartphones on July 18, replacing the 2018 app and co-existing with the 2020 Google Pay app in the US. While the app name itself was changed from Google Pay to Google Wallet, the service name of actually paying for things online or in-store remains “Google Pay.”.

In the US, Google Pay has over 165 million users.  Also, Google Pay is used on nearly 800,000 websites as a secure payment gateway. Roughly 20% of all mobile purchases are made using this digital payment processor. Google Pay ranks 3rd among mobile payment methods globally. In Russia, it has an online usage distribution of 35.18% and has recorded approximately 1,281,838 transactions online. Available in 19 countries, 30% of Google Pay’s active users are millennials. It is one of Canada’s top 5 online payment apps and is the primary mobile payment method for 2,193 businesses worldwide. In India, Google Pay boasts 67 million active users and holds 36.10% of the mobile application market. Its widespread adoption and significant market share highlight its growing importance in the global digital payment landscape.

Google Pay is available in Estonia at 44 banks and payment service providers as of October 2025.

Samsung Pay is available in 29 countries worldwide and has an estimated 150 million users. Samsung Pay works with a broad range of Samsung Galaxy phones, including the latest Galaxy S22 and newer models, as well as many previous models like the Galaxy S8.

Samsung claims that its system will work with almost all point-of-sale systems: NFC, magnetic stripe and EMV (Europay, MasterCard and Visa) terminals for chip-based cards. In June 2022, Samsung Pay was renamed to Samsung Wallet in the US, UK, France, Germany, Italy, and Spain. Along with the renaming came new features such as the ability to store digital assets and digital keys within the Wallet app.

Samsung Pay is not yet available in Estonia.

Overview of Cashless Payments

(See Chart – Cashless payments in Estonia 2024)

In Estonia, payment cards are the dominant cashless payment instrument by volume with a market share of 61.11% compared to 55.85% in the EU. The other non-cash electronic payments are credit transfers, accounting for 33.89% in 2024. Direct debits and cheque payments no longer feature in Estonia.

In 2024, there were 554.8 cashless payments per capita composed of 356.9 card payments and 197.9 credit transfers.

4 - Cashless Payment Transactions in Estonia
(Millions)202020212022202320242025FGR 23/24GR 5YCAGR 5Y
Payment cards357.8383.3429.2460.8490.7518.96.49%32.33%5.76%
Cheques issued0.00.00.00.00.00.0---
Credit transfers166.8178.9217.2245.2272.1300.610.97%64.51%10.47%
Direct debits0.00.00.00.00.00.0---
Total553.5600.0692.8750.7803.0866.56.97%46.38%7.92%
Total card payments per capita269.2288.3322.3337.3356.9377.55.80%27.53%4.98%
Total cheques issued per capita0.00.00.00.00.00.0---
Total credit transfers per capita125.5134.6163.1179.5197.9218.610.26%58.54%9.65%
Total direct debits per capita0.00.00.00.00.00.0---
Total cashless payments per capita394.7422.9485.4516.9554.8596.17.35%37.09%6.51%
Note: totals include transactions through 'other payment services'.
Source: ECB.

Exchange Rates

In January 2011, Estonia became the seventeenth member of the euro system. Until then, the exchange rate of the Estonian kroon (EEK) against the euro was fixed at EEK15.6466 = €1.

Estonia aspired to be the first of the ten states which joined the EU in May 2004 to enter the euro system, but missed the target date of May 2006 set by the government for circulation of euro notes and coins. The European Commission was accused at the time of over-rigid interpretation of the rules, though with hindsight it may have been justified in view of the imbalances which emerged in the economy; consequently, Slovenia joined the euro system before Estonia in 2007.

Market Infrastructure

According to Eesti Panki, preparation for the legislative basis of payment system oversight was a priority in 2021. This concerned the Payment Systems Act that is being drafted and will transpose the Settlement Finality Directive and strengthen the oversight function. This will help with overseeing payment systems at a point where Estonia does not have any local payment systems and the banks operating in Estonia depend increasingly on services provided abroad. With this, Eesti Pank is changing its oversight role for payment systems, focusing on assessing and managing risks to the payments market through market participants.

Card Issuers – Overview

Estonian banks issue credit cards, charge cards, debit cards and prepaid cards in combination with bank accounts. Addressing the specific needs of personal banking and business banking, the card portfolio is composed of consumer cards, business cards and corporate cards.

Dedicated card products are offered for the individual client segments: families, millennials, students, affluent clients, small business clients, corporate clients and even basic account clients. The credit cards offered range from classic cards to gold cards and platinum cards.

In the past, there were just six Estonian banks that issued cards, there are now seven. Leading issuers are Swedbank and SEB Pank, which are dual brand issuers, followed by Luminor Bank. Swedbank had issued American Express cards while SEB Kort issued Diners Club cards until 2019 when it was absorbed into SEB Kort. American Express Payments Europe now issues American Express cards on its own.

In 2017, DNB Pank and Nordea Pank were merged and became Luminor Bank. Handelsbanken no longer issues cards as has announced its plans to withdraw from Estonia at end-2020.

Table 5 illustrates the card brands accepted by the leading issuers in Estonia as at mid-2025.

5 - Leading Card Issuers in Estonia
Domestic IssuersIssued Card BrandsOwned by
SwedbankMastercard, VISA, Debit MastercardSwedbank Group (S)
SEB Pank / SEB KortMastercard, VISA, Diners; Debit Mastercard, ElectronSEB Group (S)
Luminor BankMastercard; Debit MastercardBlackstone (US): 80.05%, DNB Group (N): 19.95%
Coop PankMastercard; Debit MastercardCoop Investments: 22%, Coop Eesti: 19%, Others: 59%
Tallinna Äripank (TBB)Mastercard; Debit MastercardLeonarda Invest (EST): 44.47%, Others: 55.53%
Citadele PankMastercard, VISA; Debit MastercardCitadele Bank (LV)
LHV PankMastercard; Debit MastercardPrivate Investors & their investment companies: 99.97%; Institutions: 0.03%
Note: in Q4 2017, Nordea Pank and DNB Pank merged and became Luminor Bank. Handelsbanken ceased card business in Estonia in late 2020.
Note: effective 1 October 2019, Danske Bank has ceased to operate in Estonia.
Source: PCM research.

Outlook – By mid-2025, Estonian card issuers face the following notable challenges:

Card Processors and PSPs

In Europe, the payment processing industry is composed of card processors, ATM/POS network hub processors, e-/m-payment service processors (PSPs), and specialised processors (e.g. CSM processors, TSM services).

In Estonia, card issuer processing services range from technical issuer processing, including card printing, to full cardholder processing services. They include all types of cards and card technologies allowing for card use in multi-channels (i.e. at ATMs, POS terminals, on the internet and in-store mobile payments in the future).

Acquirer processing services in the country range from technical acquirer processing, including POS terminal services, to full merchant processing services. Usually, ATM/POS network processing is part of acquirer processing while payments on the internet are routed by specialised e-/m-payment service processors (PSPs) to the card acquirers and independent payment service providers (e.g. FinTechs like PayPal), respectively.

The leading card processor in Estonia is NETS Estonia. In addition, Worldline Baltics (previously First Data Baltics) is active in Estonia.

Worldline (formerly First Data) – In 2016, FDB reported revenue of €23 million. In July 2017, Worldline (B) acquired 100% of the share capital of First Data Baltics for €73 million. With the acquisition of FDB, Worldline entered into the Lithuanian, Latvian and Estonian markets. The transaction closed at the end of September 2017.

In June 2017, Worldline acquired online payments outfit Digital River (S), providing Worldline with its first operational positions in Sweden, the US and Brazil.

NETS Estonia (EstCard), the former Pankade Kaardikeskus (PKK), which was founded in 1993 by Estonian banks, is the dominant provider of payment processing solutions for cards to banks and finance institutions in Estonia. PKK has a unique and very important role in the Estonian financial services market as it is the national standard-setting body for payment cards processing. Moreover, PKK is responsible for certification of all the card payment solutions that are in use in Estonia, as well as currently chairing the interbank round table for common card developments, risks and fraud.

Most Estonian banks have used the processing services of PKK. It is the interbank authorisation and clearing centre for card transactions in Estonia. PKK was acquired by NETS, the Nordic acquirer processor, in June 2008. Thus, PKK is now the subsidiary NETS Estonia AS (‘EstCard’).

NETS Estonia offers ATM/POS network processing, acquirer processing and domestic gateway processing. It is intermediating transactions between local banks and international card organisations (VISA, Mastercard, American Express, Diners Club, and JCB). It also organises POS and ATM cross-usage between Estonian banks. Additionally, NETS Estonia is offering systems and the technical platform for mobile payments, as well as the sale, maintenance, and rental services of POS terminals.

In addition to the banking sector, NETS Estonia offers customised services, mainly to retail businesses and in the payment and loyalty card segment. Biggest customers outside the banking sector are: Neste Eesti, Shell Eesti and Statoil Eesti (petrol filling stations), department store Stockmann Eesti and Tulika Takso, a taxi company.

In February 2016, NETS launched tokenised mobile payments in the Baltic region using a turnkey tokenisation platform, Token Processing Appliance (TPA), which supports both mobile HCE NFC payments and SIM SE NFC payments.

In October 2016, NETS renewed the pan-Baltic framework agreement for processing services with Danske Bank. In January 2017, NETS renewed the framework agreement for processing services with SEB Pank. In June 2017, NETS renewed the framework agreement for processing services with Swedbank Estonia.

In September 2019, NETS entered into a five-year agreement with Estonian FinTech Wallester, to deliver card processing, dispute handling and other financial services and thereby help enabling Wallester’s European growth ambitions. Wallester is a white label payment card-as-a-service solution provider.

In March 2021, NETS Estonia was selected by Luxembourg-based Gerlionti, which is currently in the process of obtaining an Electronic Money Institution (EMI) licence to support the development of its new digital payment system, GerliPay. GerliPay is Gerlionti’s fully digital payment solution for start-ups, SMEs and large corporates, designed to provide seamless, flexible and customer-centric financial services. The platform will enable remote onboarding, business payment cards and salary payouts, multi-currencies, direct debits and more. GerliPay will be accessible to European markets both online and via mobile apps from summer 2021.

In July 2021, Estonian Bigbank selected NETS to provide issuer processing and digital services, including virtual cards and mobile payment capabilities. NETS will support Bigbank’s core offering by delivering issuer processing and digital services through its modular-based platform. This will include tokenisation, with access to Apple Pay and Google Pay, as well as instant issuing with virtual cards and digital PIN. Nets will also provide Bigbank with personalisation, customer services, and fraud and dispute services.

In August 2021, NETS and LHV Bank extended their long-term partnership in Estonia, while adding new issuing services for LHV’s British subsidiary, LHV UK Limited. The extended partnership will see NETS continue to deliver full acquiring services for LHV in Estonia, including terminal rental, payment authorisations and clearing, e-commerce capabilities, dispute management and fraud prevention.

In November 2020, Italian processor Nexi confirmed its intention deal to buy NETS for €7.8 billion, with the signing of a merger deal taking place in June 2021. The completion of the transaction was subject to approval from Finnish regulator FIN-FSA and closed in June 2021. The merger of Nexi and NETS creates Europe’s largest payments firm by volume and number of customers.

As of 2020, NETS processed over 2.87 billion transactions worth $142.24 billion in Europe and counted 402,050 merchant outlets and 910,354 POS terminals in its acquiring network.

As of 2025, NETS processes millions of digital payment transactions annually, servicing over 740,000 merchant outlets and collaborating with more than 250 banks and issuers across Europe.

NETS operates more than 910,000 POS terminals globally and has expanded its acquiring network in the Baltics and beyond, maintaining leadership in payment acceptance and merchant services.

During 2020, as several banks moved their card processing services out of Estonia, card payments started to be processed not by the domestic card payment system managed by NETS Estonia but by the international card schemes VISA and Mastercard, and by cross-border service providers.

Online Payment Service Processors (PSPs) 

Online payment service processors (PSPs) are specialised technical processors for all kind of secure online payments and mobile payments. Some of them also offer virtual PSP platform services (VPSP) for bank acquirers who want to take advantage of a kind of ‘internet network processor’.

Online shops of merchants are directly connected by an API interface or a hosted payment page either to the internet payment gateway of a bank acquirer, or they are connected to multi-acquirers through a PSP.

PSPs usually partner with more than one card acquirer and payment initiation service providers. Core services offered by PSPs may include payment gateways to card acquirers and other online payment service providers, online payment processing, risk management services, and collection services for merchants.

Security technologies applied to ensure secure online card payments include EMV tokenisation and strong 3D-Secure (MCSC, VbV, SafeKey) combined with one-time tokens. For card-less payment services, the security technologies applied include userID/password combined with one-time tokens and online banking access with one-time TAN.

In Estonia, the resident Payment Service Providers (PSPs) ecosystem includes:

Like other European countries Estonian bank acquirers, cross-border acquirers and foreign PSPs provide their services on the internet in Estonia.

Cross-border and Baltic PSPs servicing Estonian online merchants include:

Acquiring and Acceptance 

In Europe, most acquirers offer multi-channel card acceptance and value-added merchant services at POS terminals, mobile MPOS terminals, and online shops. The leading acquirers usually act on a European level and offer their services cross-border.

Additionally, innovative acquirers also offer the acceptance of card-less payment services based on partner agreements with the issuer of those payment services (e.g. account-based payments, wallets, prepaid products).

Most acquirers either operate their own acquirer systems and ATM/POS/MPOS network service hubs, or they use the processing services of external processors. In order to service online merchants in Europe, they may operate their own PSP processing platforms or they co-operate with one or more specialised online payment service processors (PSPs).

From 2009, European acquirers compete in their home markets, cross-border on a European level, and cross-channel at POS terminals and servicing online merchants. From 2016, innovative acquirers started to offer omni-channel and multi-payment acceptance.

By mid-2025, omni-channel acceptance includes the ability to service all channels (i.e. POS/MPOS terminals, mobile in-store, online shops, in-app), and to accept multiple payment means in all of these channels. Multi-payment services demanded by merchants include cards, IBAN-based payments (SCT, SDD), online wallets, digital wallets, prepaid products, and immediate payments.

Outlook – By mid-2025, Estonian acquirers face the following notable challenges:

Swedbank, SEB Pank, and Luminor Bank are the Estonian merchant acquirers. All are acquirers for Mastercard and VISA brands. Swedbank and SEB Pank are V PAY acquirers. Swedbank is the American Express acquirer while SEB Pank through SEB Kort is the Diners and Discover acquirer. NETS Estonia is the JCB acquirer. In January 2019, Swedbank signed an agreement with UnionPay to acquire that system’s transactions in Estonia.

With 1.1 million cards as of 2024, Swedbank recorded over 283.7 million card purchases, compared to 273.5 million in 2023. The ratio of POS purchases in total card turnover reached 73.9% in 2024, compared to 73.4% in 2023. In relation to card acquiring, Swedbank recorded 278.7 million transactions acquired, for a total value of SEK 60.2 billion.

Most Estonian acquirers use the processing services of NETS Estonia. Table 6 illustrates the card brands accepted by the leading domestic acquirers as of mid-2025.

6 - Leading Acquirers in Estonia
Domestic AcquirersAcceptance Brands offeredOwned by
SwedbankMastercard, VISA, AmExp; Electron, V PAY, UnionPay Swedbank Group (S)
SEB Pank / SEBKortMastercard, VISA, Diners, Discover; Electron, V PAYSEB Group (S)
Luminor BankMastercard, VISA; ElectronBlackstone (US): 80.05%, DNB Group (N): 19.95%
NETS EstoniaMastercard, VISA, Diners, Discover, JCB; Electron, V PAYNETS (DK)
Source: PCM research

Payment Institutions

In 2024, there were 14 payment institutions resident in Estonia (2023: 16, 2022: 16, 2021: 15, 2020: 13). Authorised in another EEA member state, additionally, a total of 292 cross-border payment institutions provided notification of operating in Estonia under the EU passport system.

The number of payment institutions operating in Estonia has been quite stable over the years. The first operating licence for a payment institution was issued by Finantsinspektsioon in 2011.

Payment and e-money institutions in Estonia intermediated payments of €1.2 billion in 2024, up from €806 million in 2023. A total of 19.8 million payments were made, up from 14.6 million in 2023.

ATM Terminal Infrastructure

NETS Estonia operates an ATM network for Estonian banks. Swedbank and SEB Pank operate their ATM network on Nordic group level. Having absorbed the ATM estates of Nordea and DNB, Luminor owns around 400 ATMs throughout the Baltic states, and additionally provides services through 100 ATMs in partnership with other financial services providers. In 2021, Luminor signed a five-year contract with Worldline to unify and upgrade its ATM network throughout the Baltics. By year end the network had been modernised and functionality increased. As of 2023, Luminor had 91 ATMs in Estonia.

Estonian ATMs are open to debit cards (Debit Mastercard, Maestro, Cirrus, VISA Debit, Electron, Plus, and V PAY) and credit cards (Mastercard, VISA, American Express, Diners, Discover, UnionPay and JCB) with most cash withdrawals being on debit cards. The EMV migration of ATM terminals is complete.

Eesti Pank reported that around 94% of people withdrew cash from 669 ATMs in Estonia in 2021, of which 250 accepted cash deposits. Cash could also be deposited and withdrawn at 29 bank offices.  The survey of financial behaviour ordered by Eesti Pank found that 94% of respondents had easy access to cash. There are some 700 places across Estonia from which cooperation between the banks and points of sale allows cash to be withdrawn. As of Q4, 2024, according to Eesti Pank, cash withdrawals from ATMs in Estonia were up 1.1% compared to the same period in 2023.

According to ECB, in 2024, the country had 662 ATMs (-0.90% from 2023). Among individual banks, Swedbank reported 373 ATMs, Luminor had 91 while SEB Pank had 205 ATMs.

The effect of the COVID-19 pandemic can be seen in cash usage statistics. In 2024, there were 38.21 million cash withdrawals (-16.73%) with a total value of €5.72 billion (-16.28% vs 2023). There were 4,810.4 withdrawals per ATM per month, and the ATV per domestic cash withdrawal accounted for €149.63.

The number and value of ATM withdrawals in Estonia fell for the first time in 2009 and has continued to decline, testifying to the increasing maturity of the Estonian market and the higher use of cards at POS terminals.

7 - ATMs and Cash Withdrawals in Estonia
202020212022202320242025FGR 23/24GR 5YCAGR 5Y
ATM Terminals with cash function718695669668662650-0.90%-9.07%-1.88%
Ø Number of TXs per ATM per month3,161.13,039.75,923.55,724.84,810.44,494.6-15.97%27.29%4.95%
Number of ATM cash withdrawals (m)27.2425.3547.5545.8938.2135.03-16.73%15.75%2.97%
- on domestic cards (m)26.2924.5145.8244.5437.2934.25-16.29%17.93%3.35%
- on foreign cards (m)0.940.841.741.350.930.78-31.18%-33.55%-7.85%
Value of ATM cash withdrawals (€bn)3.623.577.276.835.724.82-16.28%39.05%6.82%
- on domestic cards (€bn)3.443.406.906.565.534.67-15.63%43.57%7.50%
- on foreign cards (€bn)0.190.170.370.270.180.15-31.96%-28.58%-6.51%
ATV per cash withdrawal€133.08€140.65€152.83€148.83€149.63€137.680.54%20.13%3.74%
# ATM Terminals per 1m capita - Estonia540.3522.8502.3489.1481.6472.5-1.53%-12.36%-2.61%
# ATM Terminals per 1m capita - EU27 685.3678.8642.2642.2642.2605.640.00%-25.42%-5.70%
Source: ECB, Eesti Pank.
8 - Estonian ATMs by Device Type
20202021202220232024GR 23/24GR 5YCAGR 5Y
Total ATM Terminal Devices by Type718695669668662-0.90%-9.07%-1.88%
- of which ATMs in cross usage718695669668662-0.90%-9.07%-1.88%
- of which ATMs with cash and payment function436413571573366-36.13%-18.30%-3.96%
- of which ATMs with cash function2822829895296211.58%5.71%1.12%
- of which ATM with cash downpayment function2092092102192221.37%7.25%1.41%
Source: Eesti Pank (Central Bank of Estonia).

Cash-advance Services in Estonia – Competition for ATMs 

In an Open Banking ecosystem, the dominant role of ATMs for cash withdrawal services may decline as more cash-advance and cash handling services are offered at retail outlets in Europe.

Cash in-Store – In parallel to ATM cash withdrawals on cards, the Estonian banks support cash-advance services on cards at POS terminals in retail outlets (see below).

Pan-Baltic ATM Network – In May 2010, the Baltic units of Swedbank, SEB, Nordea Bank and Danske Bank launched a project analysing the feasibility of a common ATM network covering the entire Baltic region. The four banks had a total of 936 ATMs in Estonia, 604 in Latvia, and 868 in Lithuania, amounting, in 2010, to 2,408 ATMs across the region. The study pointed out that merging ATM networks is beneficial both to customers and banks, but Swedbank and SEB have suspended their participation. Both are involved in the Swedish ATM network project Bancomat (see Sweden profile).

In May 2012, Nordea Pank and Sampo Pank (now all part of Luminor Bank) agreed to continue operating their joint Pan-Baltic ATM network and remain open to any Baltic operator wishing to join it. In Estonia and Latvia, the joint network is operated by Nordea and Sampo, in Lithuania also Sialiu Bankas and Citadele banks participate. A total of 480 ATMs belonged to the joint network – 100 in Estonia, 112 in Latvia and 268 in Lithuania.

In May 2021, Luminor Bank and Worldline signed a five-year agreement under which Worldline unified and upgraded Luminor’s current ATM network, with work completed by the end of 2021. Previously, Luminor’s ATM network was operated on different models across Estonia, Latvia, and Lithuania, with some fully owned ATMs and some being outsourced to different service providers. According to Worldline, unifying the network made it more efficient and also provided the bank’s customers with consistent functionality and service across the Baltics.

POS Terminal Infrastructure

NETS (previously PKK) operate a POS network for the Estonian banks. Only Swedbank operates its own POS network concentrator hub on group level. The EMV migration of POS terminals is complete.

Accepted brands at Estonian POS terminals include debit cards (Debit Mastercard, Maestro, VISA Debit, Electron, and V PAY) and credit cards (Mastercard, VISA, American Express, Diners, and JCB).

According to the ECB, in 2024, the country had 48,989 POS terminals (+11.89% from 2023). Among individual banks, SEB Pank reported 10,020 POS terminals in 2023.

In 2024, there were 748.84 million payments (+6.00% from 2023) with a total value of €15.11 billion (+3.64% vs 2023). There were 1,275.1 payments per POS terminal per month. The ATV per POS payment accounted for €20.19.

9 - POS Terminals in Estonia
202020212022202320242025FGR 23/24GR 5YCAGR 5Y
POS terminals35,61637,98440,97443,73748,93952,06611.89%36.30%6.39%
Ø Number of TXs per POS per month746.4738.01342.71346.01275.11266.5-5.27%61.59%10.07%
Number of POS payments (m)319.02336.37660.19706.46748.84791.286.00%120.25%17.11%
- on domestic cards (m)307.64320.78595.88635.82673.54713.515.93%111.51%16.16%
- on foreign cards (m)11.3815.5964.3070.6475.3077.786.59%249.40%28.43%
Value of POS payments (€m)5,677.706,383.7513,497.2314,586.6715,118.2215,656.013.64%154.58%20.55%
- on domestic cards (€m)5,368.875,940.2811,570.7312,428.1212,931.0613,454.374.05%144.26%19.56%
- on foreign cards (€m)308.83443.481,926.502,158.552,187.152,201.641.32%239.45%27.69%
ATV per POS payment€17.80€18.98€20.44€20.65€20.19€19.79-2.22%15.59%2.94%
# POS Terminals per 1m capita - Estonia26,799.528,571.030,766.032,021.135,600.037,874.611.18%31.35%5.61%
# POS Terminals per 1m capita - EU2731,503.734,817.044,815.544,815.544,815.548,528.780.00%48.89%8.29%
Source: ECB, Eesti Pank.

The POS terminal statistic of Eesti Pank gives more details on device types installed in the country (see Table 10). The ratio between POS terminals and outlets equipped with payment functions was 1.73 as at end-2023.

10 - Estonian POS Terminals by Device Type
20202021202220232024GR 23/24GR 5YCAGR 5Y
Total POS outlets with payment functions27,24428,21930,78332,70229,840-8.75%15.68%2.96%
- of which POS with card payment27,24428,21930,78332,70229,840-8.75%15.68%2.96%
- of which POS with mobile payment-----nanana
Total POS terminals by Device Type38,89541,82146,11149,47451,6884.48%36.51%6.42%
- of which POS terminals standalone27,31829,09230,75433,08736,3319.80%29.83%5.36%
- of which cash register systems with POS terminal8,2988,89210,22010,65012,60818.38%59.15%9.74%
- of which imprinters-----nanana
- of which online shops3,2793,8375,1375,7372,749-52.08%40.97%7.11%
- of which mail order/telephone order (MOTO)-----nanana
Note: some figures have been restated.
Source: Eesti Pank (Central Bank of Estonia).

Cash-Advances – In May 2015, the state-owned postal service Eesti Post launched a cash-advance service through its mail carriers. Consumers can withdraw up to €400 per transaction using cards at MPOS terminals provided by the mail delivery personnel.

An increasing number of companies are providing a cash withdrawal service from shop tills. The number of ATMs has been quite stable in recent years and there were 662 ATMs in Estonia at the end of 2024, of which 209 had a cash depositing function. There were still 29 bank offices that offered cash handling services.

MPOS Terminals – Mobile merchants (i.e. no fixed outlet) have started to use their smartphone and tablet PCs as a kind of mini-POS+ECR device with added chip reader dongle. In late 2012, Square clones like iZettle, SumUp, Miura and others launched their MPOS services in Europe. iZettle was expected to support the Nordic banks in the Baltic region. Following its 2018 acquisition by PayPal, iZettle was renamed Zettle. In May 2015, Eesti Post launched its MPOS terminal service for the rural regions of the country.

In October 2017, SumUp launched its MPOS terminal service in Estonia. Small business owners can take card payments with their smartphone and the SumUp Air card reader without any monthly fees or contractual obligations.

Additionally, merchants can initiate MOTO like card payments on their smartphones and tablets by downloading a payment app.

SmartPOS Terminals – In 2018, POS terminal vendors launched innovative new types of POS terminals. Named SmartPOS terminals, they combine the electronic cash register functionality (ECR) used by merchants in outlets with a contactless POS payment terminal and merchant services in the cloud. For the very first time, the so far separated ECR devices and POS terminals are integrated in just one checkout solution device. From late 2018, SmartPOS terminal vendors like Castles, Clover, Ingenico, PAX, Poynt, Spire Payments, Verifone, Worldline, and others have launched their SmartPOS devices and services in Europe. It is believed that Estonian SME merchants will embrace SmartPOS terminals.

Remote Payments on the Internet – Cards & More

Estonia is a small e-commerce market within Europe, but with an avid online shopping population. From 2015, in line with EU-wide legislation and EU VAT regulation, Estonian merchants will have to collect the applicable VAT rate for cross-border sales based on the consumers’ residence.

SecuRe Pay – The new European Banking Authority (EBA) guidelines on the security of internet payments (SecuRe Pay) came into effect from 1 August 2015, requiring firms to have certain standards, such as one-time security details, for customers making internet payments. The EBA guidelines were introduced as a stop gap and are superseded by the revised Payments Services Directive (PSD2) and its RTS SCA standard, effective from September 2019. However, Estonia, Slovakia and the UK have opted out while the other EU member states have opted to support the SecuRe Pay initiative.

Internet Use – In 2024, 93% of Estonians used the internet and 73% of internet users bought goods or services online over the last 12 months.

The Estonian E-Commerce Association estimated around 7,000 e-stores in Estonia as of 2022. According to data from Eesti Pank, e-commerce purchases by Estonian residents averaged €6 million a month in Q4 2021, with a total turnover of €249 million. There were 31% more e-purchases in Q4 than there were in the same quarter of the previous year, while turnover was up by 59%. By Q4 2022, e-purchase card payments using Estonian cards rose to €0.5 billion and people in Estonia used bankcards for purchases of around €2.5 billion of goods and services from Estonia and abroad in Q4 2022. In Q4 2024, Eesti Pank reported that people in Estonia used bankcards for purchases of around €2.7 billion of goods and services from Estonia and abroad, which was 5.5% more than in Q4 2023.

Shoppers have started to prefer Estonian e-stores more in recent years, and in Q4 58% of all e-purchases were made from Estonian e-stores. An average of €138 million a month was spent in local e-stores in Q4, which was €70 million more than in Q4 2019. Some €111 million was spent in foreign e-stores in the quarter, which was €50 million more than at the same time two years earlier.

According to E-commerce Europe, the Estonian online B2C e-commerce value of goods and services accounted for €5.20 billion (+18.18%) at end-2023, showing a CAGR of 29.64% from 2020. The B2C e-commerce amount per capita accounted for, an on average low, €3,782.7 while it was €4,819.0 per online buyer. E-commerce (eGDP) accounted for a 13.17% share of Estonian GDP in 2024.

11 - Internet Use in Estonia
202020212022202320242025FGR 23/24GR 5YCAGR 5Y
Households with internet access90%92%92%93%93%93%-0.35%3.21%0.63%
Last internet use (individuals, 12 months)90%92%92%94%93%92%-1.06%2.20%0.44%
Internet users who bought online76%76%84%78%78%79%1.08%5.04%0.99%
Last online purchase (individuals, 12 month)68%70%77%73%73%73%0.00%7.35%1.43%
Last online purchase (individuals, 3 month)57%62%62%62%62%65%0.00%10.71%2.06%
Mobile phone subscriptions per capita144.9%149.1%155.0%150.0%151.0%152.0%0.67%2.71%0.54%
B2C e-Commerce revenue (€bn)1.431.723.544.405.206.1018.18%266.20%29.64%
Annual B2C eCommerce growth rate/year0.7%20.3%105.8%24.3%18.2%17.3%−−−
Ø B2C e-Commerce amount per capita €1,076.0€1,293.8€2,658.1€3,221.4€3,782.7€4,437.417.42%252.91%28.69%
Ø B2C e-Commerce amount per online buyer€1,424.1€1,700.4€3,175.9€4,148.1€4,819.0€5,592.316.18%235.97%27.43%
Note: e-commerce revenue figures have been restated.
sources: Eurostat, Ecommerce Europe.

Cards on the Internet (CNP) – All cards with international brands are accepted in Estonian online shops as long as the merchant has signed an acceptance contract accordingly. Also, Estonian banks issue prepaid cards and virtual cards for internet use only. Further, web-based mail order services for merchant-initiated payments and Dynamic Currency Conversion (DCC) are offered.

The e-Payment Mix – According to Eesti Pank, the most common way of buying online in Estonia is through bank link payment orders. Payment initiation services based on Open Banking have also become popular alongside bank links. Bank link payment orders and Open Banking payments were used for 53% of all the e-purchases made in Estonia in Q4 2021, and they accounted for 76% of turnover.

An average of 11,600 purchases with instalments were made each month in Q4 from e-stores, with a total turnover of €6.7 million. The average purchase in instalments from an e-store in Q4 was €574. Although instalments are used less often than other forms of payment, it is becoming increasingly popular as a way of paying.

Remote Payments on the Mobile Internet – Since 2011, online buyers with a high affinity for smartphones have started the use of their mobile phones for shopping on the mobile internet. Mobile online shops can be accessed by mobile internet, by mobile app, or by scanning a 2D QR-code displayed in a newspaper or at a bus station. Thus, remote mobile phone payments are executed either by using the e-payment page of the mobile online shop or by using payment apps of a PSP or an acquirer.

Also, merchants can download a payment app from their acquirer in order to initiate MOTO payments with cards and/or online direct debits. Leading Estonian merchants are field testing their own mobile apps including loyalty functions (e.g., e-vouchers, discounts, outlet finder, QR-code scanning) and an IBAN-based direct debit payment function.

Mobile Payments – Overview

In 2024, 151.0% of Estonians have subscribed to a mobile phone. Many Estonians own more than one mobile phone and 62% of Estonians over the age of 16 owned a smartphone. Also, the tablet penetration has jumped significantly from a low level to around 500,000 people as of 2021.

Since 2006, the next generation of mobile services and payments has started, pushed by the online buyers’ high affinity to smartphones and tablets and also by new disruptive technologies (1D-barcodes, QR-code, Bluetooth BLE, and Near Field Communication NFC).

Mobile initiatives in Estonia are field testing and using new technologies either as initiating form factors to bridge to online shops on the internet (1D-barcodes, QR-code, NFC) or to enable contactless access to the retail POS outlet (1D-barcodes, QR-code, BLE, Bluetooth Low Energy, NFC Stickers, Mobile NFC Phones) e.g.:

The m-Payment Mix in Estonia – There are no official m-payment mix statistics, but PSP information indicates that the domestic m-payment mix is similar to the e-payment mix on the internet (see Remote Payments on the Internet section).

Mobile Payment Initiatives

In 2025, the various European mobile payment initiatives can be grouped into

European Payments Initiative (EPI) – In July 2020, a group of 16 major Eurozone banks announced the start of the implementation phase of a new unified payment scheme, the European Payment Initiative (EPI).

In 2021, the 31 founding bank groups from seven European countries and two third-party acquirers had included:

In March 2022, EPI gave up on its effort to build a rival to Mastercard and VISA in Europe after more than half its members left. However, 13 shareholders confirmed on February 25th that they remain convinced of the strategic value of a unified payment solution, leveraging instant payments, and want to go ahead. Therefore, the EPI interim company is now adapting its scope and objectives to this new dimension excluding cards.

The remaining shareholders of EPI include Banco Santander, Banque Fédérative du Crédit Mutuel, BNP Paribas, Crédit Agricole, Deutsche Bank, Deutscher Sparkassen- und Giroverband, Groupe BPCE, ING Bank, KBC Bank, La Banque Postale, NETS (NEXI), Société Générale and Worldline.

In April 2023, the European Payments Initiative acquired the Dutch payment scheme iDeal and, the mobile payments app, Payconiq, both supported by a host of Belgian and Dutch banks.

In July 2024, EPI launched its mobile-first wallet and instant account-to-account payment solution, Wero, for customers of German Sparkassen and Volksbanken, Raiffeisenbanken.

Since its launch in July 2024, Wero has expanded its availability across Europe. By June 2025, the service had been introduced in Germany, France, and Belgium, with plans to extend to Luxembourg in June 2026 and the Netherlands in 2027. The wallet has gained significant traction, reaching approximately 70 million users by September 2025, with 43.5 million active users across the three initial countries.

The ambition of EPI is to create a unified pan-European payment solution leveraging Instant Payments, SCTINST, offering a card for consumers and merchants across Europe, a digital wallet, and P2P payments.

The solution aims to become a new standard payment service for European consumers and merchants in all types of transactions including in-store, online, cash withdrawal and “peer-to-peer” in addition to existing international payment scheme solutions.

EPI’s objective is to offer a digital payment solution that can be used anywhere in Europe and to supersede the fragmented landscape of domestic payment services that currently still exists. In doing so, EPI founders are responding to merchant and consumer communities that have been calling for payment initiatives to take a more pan-European approach.

EPI will first and foremost benefit European citizens, and it will also bring tangible benefits to European merchants, by offering them a seamless, competitive, and unified pan-European payment service solution that is also available to all European consumers.

The beginning of the implementation phase is expected to materialise through the creation of an interim company in Brussels, Belgium, which will set out clear deliverables including the completion of the technical and operational roadmap and initiating the implementation work. The accomplishments of this interim company will be evaluated by each bank before moving on to the EPI’s final corporate structure.

Wero – In September 2023, EPI has selected ‘Wero’ as the commercial name for its forthcoming digital wallet solution. The Wero digital wallet will be rolled out in phases, initially to support account-to-account based instant P2P and consumer-to-business payments, followed by online and mobile shopping payments and then point-of-sale payments. EPI aims to launch Wero by mid-2024 in Belgium, France, and Germany, followed by the Netherlands, and aims to extend to other countries in the years to come. By November 2024, Wero had reached ~14 million users and processed ~8 million transactions in the live markets (Germany, France, Belgium) since its launch in July 2024.

As of September 2025, Wero has rapidly expanded its user base, reaching 43.5 million registered users across Germany, France, and Belgium. In Germany alone, approximately 1.3 million users are utilizing the service through Sparkassen banks. The platform has processed over €7.5 billion in transactions, underscoring its growing adoption.

In December 2023, EPI completed its first instant A2A payment transaction in a proof-of-concept between customers from German Sparkasse Elbe-Elster and French Banque Populaire and Caisse d’Epargne (Groupe BPCE). The inaugural transaction, worth 10 euros, was sent from a German account to a French account using SCTINST and the EPI’s digital wallet.

Review – In the period from 2000 to 2016, various mobile SMS payments and contactless SIM SE NFC mobile initiatives were trialled. Although the technology piloted has been experienced as market proven, many of the mobile payment initiatives were phased-out due to slow user adoption. From 2016, mobile payment initiatives in Estonia have entered a consolidation phase ending up with mobile banking apps. For details and historic background regarding the phased-out mobile payment initiatives refer to the Appendix.

Mobile payments initiatives in Estonia have been growing steadily, supported by government projects, fintech innovation, and consumer adoption.

Key updates as of 2025 include:

Mobile payments accounted for about 16.5% of card transactions in early 2023, showing steady growth as digital wallets and mobile apps gain popularity, especially among younger, tech-savvy consumers. Contactless card payments rose from 35% of point-of-sale transactions in 2019 to 48% in 2022, reflecting increasing hygiene and convenience factors.

The Estonian government is actively developing a national digital wallet, coordinated by the Information System Authority and Cybernetica, to provide secure mobile access to identity documents (eID), driver’s licenses, and potentially the digital euro in the future. This wallet aims to support offline payments and improve crisis resilience by providing alternatives to cash and card payments.

Apple has expanded “Tap to Pay on iPhone” to Estonia in 2025, enabling merchants to accept contactless payments directly on iPhones without additional hardware via partners like SumUp and Revolut.

Banks like Swedbank support mobile contactless payments on Android devices with typical cumulative and per-transaction limits for convenience and security.

Estonia’s vibrant fintech ecosystem, including mobile-friendly PSPs, digital banking apps, and strong cybersecurity measures, continues to fuel mobile payment adoption and innovation in both person-to-person and merchant payments.

Central Bank Digital Currencies, Cryptocurrency Products 

In 2024, the Estonian payment ecosystem was composed of traditional cash payments, digital cryptocurrency products of independent payment service providers, and research and development of central bank digital currencies, CBDC. The regulation of cryptocurrencies is becoming increasingly relevant as independent cryptocurrency products have grown more prevalent, posing challenges for regulators and national central banks.

In July 2023, the European Union introduced the Markets in Crypto-Assets (MiCA) regulation, which aims to standardize cryptocurrency regulation across member states, including Luxembourg. This regulation addresses various aspects of crypto assets, such as market integrity, consumer protection, and financial stability, while also promoting innovation in the sector. Under MiCA, crypto-asset service providers will have specific obligations to protect users’ wallets and mitigate investment risks.

Central Bank Digital Currencies (CBDC) – The Digital Cash Challenge 

Central bank digital currency (CBDC), also called digital fiat currency or digital base money, is a digital currency issued by a national central bank (NCB), rather than by a commercial bank. It is also a liability of the NCB and denominated in the sovereign currency, as is the case with physical banknotes and coins.

All CBDCs are under the authority of the respective national central bank, and they are part of the domestic cash payment ecosystem. Rather than a new currency, CBDC is a form of central bank electronic money that could be used by households and businesses to make payments. In addition, most CBDC implementations will likely not use or need any sort of distributed ledger such as a blockchain.

Unlike “retail CBDC,” which is generally designed as a central bank liability universally accessible to individuals and businesses within a jurisdiction’s financial system, “wholesale CBDC” refers to a digitized central bank liability designed for sizable (generally interbank) transactions, and for which access is limited to certain financial institutions.

National Central Banks (NCBs) have been providing trusted money to the public for hundreds of years as part of their public policy objectives. Trusted money is a public good. It offers a common unit of account, store of value and medium of exchange for the sale of goods and services and settlement of financial transactions. Providing cash for public use is an important tool for central banks. Yet the world is changing.

Even before COVID-19, cash use for payments was declining fast and convenient digital payments have grown enormously in volume and diversity. To evolve and pursue their public policy objectives in a digital world, central banks are actively researching the pros and cons of offering a digital currency to the public, a “general purpose” CBDC.

Central banks’ interest in CBDC has increased as a potential means of delivering their public policy objectives. Profound, ongoing changes across finance, technology and society, as well as the recent COVID-19 crisis, provided additional impetus for the research of, and experimentation related to, CBDCs.

CBDC is a national digital currency issued by the central bank that is expected to replace or coexist with fiat money and hold the same value. Mobile money, on the other hand, utilises existing commercial banking-based accounting to manage customer wallet balances based on an exchange with cash or lines of credit and loans.

CBDC is a direct liability on the central bank as it is the main issuer of the currency, whereas digital money is the liability of commercial banks and other authorised financial institutions using funds on account. Although some implementation approaches propose that CBDC can be implemented in either an indirect or hybrid form, its liability remains on the respective national central bank.

Background on CBDC Evolution

In October 2020, the Bank of Canada, the Bank of England, the Bank of Japan, the European Central Bank, the Federal Reserve, Sveriges Riksbank, the Swiss National Bank and the Bank for International Settlements (BIS) published a report, Central bank digital currencies: foundational principles and core features, identifying the foundational principles necessary for any publicly available CBDC to help central banks meet their public policy objectives.

The report focused on a publicly available “general purpose” CBDC (a digital payment instrument, denominated in the national unit of account, that is a direct liability of the central bank).

A “wholesale” CBDC, restricted to financial institutions, is also an active area of exploration, notes the report, for central banks but one that carries different opportunities, challenges, and risks. The report explored the use cases for, and challenges and opportunities arising from, the possible issuance of a general purpose CBDC.

In September 2021, the same seven central banks and the BIS followed up with the publication of a new set of reports exploring the potential of retail CBDCs, including policy options and practical implementation issues. While none of the central banks has yet decided to proceed with a retail CBDC, they recognise such an instrument would have wide-ranging implications. Delivering on the future needs of consumers would require systems that encourage innovation, choice and competition among a diverse mix of intermediaries.

BIS reported that a 2021 survey of central banks found that “86% are actively researching the potential for CBDCs, 60% were experimenting with the technology and 14% were deploying pilot projects.

The People’s Bank of China (PBoC) is piloting a ‘digital yuan’, known as e-CNY, in various cities, often in association with major sporting events, such as the Winter Olympics.

The ECB published a paper on the potential of a “digital euro” in October 2020, exploring the “benefits and risks” of such an initiative. It completed a public consultation in January 2021 and a series of focus groups in December 2021. Its investigation stage is expected to continue until October 2023, after which the ECB “will decide whether to start developing a digital euro.”

The US Federal Reserve reported in February 2022 that while it has made no decisions about “whether to pursue or implement” a CBDC, it was “exploring the potential benefits and risks of CBDCs from a variety of angles and was inviting public feedback on discussion papers.

The Bank of Japan said in October 2020 that it had no plans for a CBDC and was committed to maintain the cash system as long as there was public demand for it. It nevertheless intended to explore technical feasibility through a proof of concept, consider institutional arrangements and coordinate approaches with domestic and international stakeholders. In 2023, the Bank of Japan (BOJ) has announced that it will begin a pilot for its digital yen with commercial financial institutions. In February 2023, Bank of Japan has embarked on a CBDC trial.

In June 2023, the BIS and BoE said they completed a CBDC pilot project involving CBDCs jointly run by the Bank of England (BoE) and the Bank of International Settlements (BIS). Project Rosalind was designed to explore how a “universal and extensible API layer” could connect central bank and private sector infrastructures and enable retail CBDC payments. The project also sought to develop a number of retail-CBDC use cases.

According to the BIS and BoE, the project has successfully demonstrated that “a well-designed API layer could work with different private sector applications and central bank ledger designs and that a set of simple and standardised API functionalities could support a diverse range of use cases”.

In all, the project led to the development of 33 API functionalities and examined 30 retail CBDC cases including peer-to-peer transfers, retail payments for goods and services and small-value business transactions.

While CBDCs are still in experimental phases across major economies, 2024 has seen increased momentum towards real-world implementation, with several countries, notably China and the ECB, moving closer to full-scale rollouts. Public-private collaboration, technological innovation, and privacy concerns remain central to future CBDC development. Central banks worldwide continue to balance innovation with maintaining public trust and financial stability in this rapidly evolving space.

Global Status of CBDCs 

Most National Central Banks (NCBs) are involved in different stages of a CDBC project. Especially, the NCBs have different views on which kind of CDBC they would intend to launch as a digital currency:

As of 2023, the global CDBC status reveals that four central banks – Nigeria (e-Naira), Eastern Caribbean (D-Cash), Jamaica (JAM-DEX), and the Bahamas (Sand Dollar) – have introduced a domestic CBDC scheme.

Six countries have launched a CDBC pilot: France, Canada, China, India, Saudi Arabia, and Ghana.

The NCBs of most other countries are involved in either a CDBC proof-of-concept phase – including Norway, Hungary, and Sweden – or they are still in a CDBC research stage.

So far, Ecuador is the only country that has cancelled its CBDC ambitions, Dinero electronico.

CBDC, the European Union and the Digital Euro

In July 2021, the Estonian Central Bank released a report about its experiment with the ECB and the central banks of Spain, Germany, Italy, Greece, Ireland, Latvia, and the Netherlands to assess the functionality of the digital euro. The project was able to conduct 300,000 transactions per second, with an average rate of less than two seconds per transaction.

In June 2023, the European Commission (EC) has published its legislative proposal establishing the legal framework for a possible digital euro, stressing that the CBDC would be a compliment to, not replacement for, cash.

A digital euro would be available alongside existing national and international private means of payment, such as cards or applications. It would work like a digital wallet, with people and businesses able to pay with it anytime and anywhere in the euro area.

The digital euro would be available for payments both online and offline. While online transactions would offer the same level of data privacy as existing digital means of payments, offline payments would essentially be like paying with cash – with nobody able to see what people are paying for.

The digital euro would be distributed by banks and other payment service providers, with basic services provided to people free of charge. Merchants would be required to accept the digital currency unless they are cash-only firms.

The EC’s proposal still needs to be adopted by the European Parliament and the European Council before the European Central Bank decides whether to roll out a digital euro. Notably, the European Central Bank (ECB) is involved in the preparation phase, which will run until 2025. During this time, technical experimentation and legal discussions are ongoing before any formal rollout decisions can be made​.

CBDC and Estonia

According to Eesti Pank, a CBDC would in theory give people and companies a new way to deposit and use money alongside their accounts at commercial banks and cash. A CBDC would in this way be similar to cash, as both are a claim on the central bank, meaning the central bank directly backs up the value of the money. The joint research programme of Eesti Pank, Guardtime and SW7 will run in multiple phases and is initially planned to last for around two years.

In July 2021, Eesti Pank announced it had assessed a blockchain-based system for issuing, redeeming and distributing the digital euro. The primary focus was on investigating and demonstrating the potential scalability of this blockchain-based platform and of digital bills as a possible infrastructure for a digital euro. It was hypothesised that bill-based architecture would be able to support the parallel processing of transactions, scale linearly and handle a very large number of accounts settling exceptionally large numbers of transactions simultaneously.

The work stream also explored whether and how this blockchain solution could be combined with existing digital identity (e-ID) and digital signature components for user authentication and authorisation in remote transactions. The experiment involved integrating the Estonian and Spanish eID systems and certificates with the CBDC system and exchanging €-CBDC tokens in peer-to-peer transactions both within one single jurisdiction and across two EU countries. This exercise showed that eIDAS-compliant eID solutions and certificates could support the core principles and key requirements of a digital euro like privacy, safety, accessibility and market neutrality; positively contribute to meeting several policy goals like limits, tiered remuneration or direct allowances to the general public; and streamline the onboarding process.

Eesti Panki stated that while it appears technically possible to offer a fully anonymous CBDC, this would come with unacceptable trade-offs in terms of control over money-laundering, terrorist financing and other criminal activities. A conclusion of this experiment is that the choice of privacy configuration is primarily a question of policy and regulatory requirements. The privacy and auditability analysis concluded that this CBDC system enables a particularly broad range of privacy deployments, with AML possible even in relatively decentralised ecosystems where users hold their own wallets.

During 2021, Eesti Pank led research into whether and how the KSI blockchain that is one of the core technologies for the Estonian e-state could be used for issuing a central bank digital currency into circulation. The testing showed that the blockchain technology is sufficiently developed to support the construction of a payment system that is more powerful and faster than the card and instant payment systems used currently.

The Eurosystem also decided to launch its own research phase for the digital euro, which started officially in October 2021 and will last for two years. The research phase will focus on the possible functionality of a digital euro and its impact on the market. The decision on whether to introduce a digital euro will be taken once the research phase is completed. Eesti Pank is taking an active role in the research phase by helping to compile the information material, bringing Estonian market participants into the research, and publicising generally the results of it.

As of October 2025, there have been no official announcements regarding the implementation of a CBDC in Estonia beyond participation in the euro-area digital euro project. The bank continues to emphasise the digital euro as the relevant instrument rather than a separate Estonian retail CBDC. The focus is largely on preparation, research, readiness‑building rather than implementation.

Cryptocurrencies EU

The regulation of crypto assets and related services across Europe is not standardised and is highly fragmented. While no nation has outright banned usage of cryptocurrencies like Bitcoin, Ethereum, and others, regulators have not formed a consensus over how to legislate such a quickly fluctuating market, where new cryptocurrencies emerge faster than regulators can catch up to.

The current approach across Europe is to adapt existing legislations to encompass cryptocurrencies, however, this is unlikely to be efficient as consumer and business usage changes.

In the European Union, the fifth Anti-Money Laundering Directive (AMLD5) covers certain crypto assets under the term “virtual currencies”, but it does not provide a harmonised approach. As a result, each Member State has created its own regulatory regime for transactions related to “virtual currencies” or crypto assets.

In response, the European Commission proposed the Markets in Crypto-assets (MiCA) regulation in 2020 as part of the Digital Finance Strategy, with MiCA expected to come into force in 2022 and will be directly applicable in all Member States after an 18-month transition period. MiCA will result in a harmonised set of rules for products and services and legal certainty related to crypto assets throughout the European Union in 2024. This would enable a larger number of investors to be active in this area and to use distributed ledger technology (DLT).

MiCA is to apply to all persons who want to issue crypto assets or provide services related to crypto assets in the EU.

The MiCA proposal is intended to lay down uniform rules on transparency and disclosure requirements for the issuance, offer to the public and the admission to trading of crypto assets. In addition, there are rules on the authorisation and supervision of crypto asset service providers and their issuers.

The main focus lies with the issuers of asset-referenced tokens and e-money tokens. The Regulation intends to regulate the operation, organisation and governance of issuers of asset referenced tokens and e-money tokens and crypto asset service providers. There will also be investor protection rules for the issuance, trading, exchange and custody of crypto assets. In addition, measures to prevent market abuse are to be included in the Regulation to ensure the integrity of the crypto assets markets.

In June 2022, the EU Council President and European Parliament reached agreement on MiCA regulation, ruling that crypto asset service providers will require authorisation to operate in the EU, not including NFTs or media-related digital assets.

Under the agreement, the regulatory framework will protect investors and consumers, while ensuring financial stability and enabling innovation and growth. The regulations will help protect consumers from fraud and scams, as crypto asset service providers will be liable if they lose assets and fail to protect investors’ wallets. The European Banking Authority (EBA) will form a public register of non-compliant crypto asset providers.

The regulation will also implement restrictions on stablecoins, with stablecoin issuers to be supervised by the EBA and their “holders will be offered a claim at any time and free of charge.”

Pros and Cons of CBDCs

According to research by the Bank of England, BIS, and by several other central banks, the benefits of CBDCs include supporting increased innovation in the payment system with:

Possible challenges related to use of CBDCs could include:

The ECB commissioned multiple exploratory reports on the feasibility of a digital euro in 2020 and 2021. The ECB’s working paper suggests a two-tier system for a “general purpose” CBDC. In July 2021, the ECB announced that it would launch a 24-month investigation phase for the digital euro project, which aims to address key issues regarding the design and distribution of a digital euro. The investigation phase will include focus groups, prototyping and conceptual work. In February 2022, the European Commission announced that it will propose a bill that would serve as the legal foundation for the issuance of a digital euro by the ECB. In May 2022, Christine Lagarde stated that she would be willing to back the digital Euro. By June 2023, the ECB and European Commission had significantly advanced their legislative and technical work, moving closer to launching a pilot phase for the digital euro in 2024. The pilot phase is expected to assess the practical implementation of the digital euro, following the completion of the current investigation period​.

The working paper states that the use of CBDC for retail payments is the primary use-case for the development of a digital Euro. The paper also rejects the motivation of using CBDC as a store of value, which would involve consumers switching deposits from commercial banks into CBDC. The working paper also recommends that a CBDC should be interest-bearing, with attractive interest rates offered for smaller sums suitable for payments and lower rates available for larger amounts.

Unregulated Cryptocurrency Products – Background 

Regulators and national central banks are challenged by unregulated independent cryptocurrency products. Whereas CBDCs are under the authority of the central bank, almost all cryptocurrencies are decentralised, and not controlled or managed by any central authority.

Obviously, financial market authorities and the national central banks are not in favour of unregulated cryptocurrency products, and they see them as a systematic risk for the financial system. Their intention to regulate the respective cryptocurrency exchange platforms has gained momentum.

Cryptocurrencies, originally designed as a store of value, are digital assets, developed and maintained on decentralised blockchains, and they can be used as a medium of exchange or payment method. Bitcoin and Ethereum are the most popular forms of cryptocurrencies worldwide used by consumers and businesses for transactions.

As of 2022, over 400 million people worldwide used cryptocurrencies, with merchants and businesses in more sectors accepting it as a form of payment. The major payment schemes VISA and Mastercard, PayPal and along with a growing number of financial institutions, have launched services allowing consumers to purchase or use cryptocurrencies for a range of applications.

According to a 2022 Deloitte survey, around two-thirds (64%) of surveyed merchants indicated that their customers have significant interest in using digital currencies for payments, and 83% expect consumer interest in digital currencies for payments to increase or significantly increase over the next 12 months.

In addition, merchants are motivated by the prospect of enabling immediate access to funds (40% of respondents), taking advantage of blockchain-based innovations in decentralised digital finance (39%), and allowing in-house management of the revenue cycle/treasury/finance department (39%).

Over half (54%) of large retailers (with revenues of $500 million and up) have invested more than $1 million on enabling digital currency payments, while only 6% of small retailers (with revenues of under $10 million) did so.

A 2022 survey from Checkout.com found a sharp rise in people wanting to use cryptocurrencies as a means of payment, with 40% of 18-35-year-old consumers citing their desire to experiment with using crypto as a payment method, up from less than 30% in 2021. Meanwhile, over 80% of businesses say offering crypto has attracted new customers, led to a decrease in chargebacks, while just over 60% have seen higher authorisation rates accepting crypto payments.

A recent report by Triple-A for 2024–2025 reports estimate cryptocurrency ownership in Europe has climbed to approximately 50 million people, up from around 30 million in 2023. Crypto adoption in Europe grew to 8.9% of the adult population in 2025, driven by greater institutional access, major regulatory changes (like MiCA), and clearer frameworks for exchanges and wallet providers. This keeps Europe’s ownership rate ahead of previous years, though still trailing regions like Asia and the Americas in terms of total share and growth rate.

Stablecoins

Stablecoins are a type of asset-backed cryptocurrency, whose value is typically pegged to the value of an underlying asset such as USD, GBP, or commodities like gold. Stablecoins are partially backed by real assets, and they are designed to have a value pegged to real-world assets, therefore avoiding the extreme volatility that affects cryptocurrencies.

Stablecoins offer the potential benefits of cryptocurrencies, like transparency, security, immutability, and decentralised control, while maintaining the guarantees and stability that come with using fiat currency. Stablecoins have potential to be used in cross-border payments, providing a secure, online environment for peer-to-peer (P2P) transactions to take place without needing decentralised cryptocurrencies or to pay fees to convert money into local currencies.

As of mid-2025, there were more than 200 stablecoins globally, comprising a market that’s worth about $230 billion.

A survey of central banks in January 2021 found that two-thirds of respondents are actively researching the potential impact of stablecoins on financial stability. However, some regulators in the US and China, consider stablecoins as a potential serious risk to financial systems. The risk is especially high with centralised coins, such as those backed by fiat and issued by private organisations, as economic power would be disproportionately concentrated on a single entity.

The widespread use of stablecoins in payment platforms could also pose a systemic risk, in relation to the validation and confirmation of stablecoin transactions which could interfere with payment systems. If stablecoin users couldn’t access money in their e-wallets and businesses couldn’t receive payments, economic activity would be greatly disrupted. However, these risks have not deterred major institutions like JP Morgan and VISA to explore stablecoin use cases via partnerships and internal R&D.

Tether As of mid-2025, Tether remains the largest stablecoin globally, holding a market share of over 60%. This dominance is driven by its massive liquidity, broad adoption across exchanges and blockchains, and large reserve holdings, especially in U.S. Treasuries. Its nearest competitors include USD Coin (USDC), Binance USD (BUSD), and decentralized stablecoins like DAI, although Tether’s market share far exceeds them. Recent reports have shown Tether’s involvement in major financial markets and even Bitcoin mining, further reinforcing its stronghold on the crypto landscape.

Regarding Facebook’s Diem (formerly Libra) project, it was officially abandoned. Diem’s assets were sold off to Silvergate Capital in early 2022, marking the end of the initiative that once aimed to create a globally accessible digital currency. Regulatory pressures and internal challenges led to the dissolution of the project.

Market Size and Dynamics

Cards in Issue

Estonia has one of the most developed payment card markets in Central and Eastern Europe, with high levels of card usage by all key measures, including at the POS.

By end-2024, there were 2.14 million cards in Estonia (+6.46% from 2023) accounting for 1.56 bank cards per capita. Debit cards amounted to 80.49% of total cards, and most Estonians already have a debit card. The cards total includes 1,376 cash-only cards.

12 - Cards Issued in Estonia
202020212022202320242025FGR 23/24GR 5YCAGR 5Y
Cards with a cash function1,872,8941,898,0061,970,6252,011,7002,141,6732,198,0936.46%13.88%2.63%
Cards with a payment function1,870,7591,895,8711,968,6132,009,8802,140,2972,094,5736.49%14.00%2.66%
- cards with a debit function1,558,7921,595,9751,657,1301,694,3571,723,8851,761,1411.74%11.28%2.16%
- cards with a credit function311,967299,896311,483297,292332,577333,43211.87%1.29%0.26%
Total number of cards in issue1,872,8941,898,0061,970,6252,011,7002,141,6732,198,0936.46%13.88%2.63%
Payment cards per capita - EST1.411.431.481.471.561.605.78%9.75%1.88%
Payment cards per capita - EU27 1.651.721.781.781.781.820.00%13.48%2.56%
Note: most Estonian credit cards have a credit function; there are only a few delayed debit cards.
Source: ECB, Eesti Pank (Central Bank of Estonia).

Historic figures from Eesti Pank, the Estonia central bank, showed that VISA brands dominated the debit card market. This reflected in part the acquisition of Hansabank by Swedbank, a core VISA debit issuer in Sweden.

However, by end-2024, VISA Electron cards represented just 2.56% of debit cards issued in Estonia (down from 83.5% at end-2011), and VISA credit cards represented 8.51% of all credit cards (2011: 66.5%). Debit Mastercard cards continued to replace VISA Electron cards and accounted for 78.82% of all Estonian payment cards in 2024.

Mastercard who just had leadership in credit card branding in 2006 (52%) and 2010 (51%), accounted for 70.43% of the credit card market in 2024 (see Table 13).

13 - International Brands on Estonian Cards
(000s)20202021202220232024GR 23/24GR 5YCAGR 5Y
Debit cards:1,5611,5981,6591,6961,7251.71%11.15%2.14%
- VISA Electron8657524336-17.52%14.94%2.82%
- Debit Mastercard1,4731,5391,6061,6511,6882.25%11.21%2.15%
Credit cards:30930031131641631.98%30.49%5.47%
- VISA 412929273428.39%29.89%5.37%
- Mastercard2682702822892931.59%0.24%0.05%
Other international brands2222904847.36%2771.24%95.71%
Note: Eesti Pank reported very few other debit cards declining from 5,000 in 2017 to 2,000 in 2021.
Source: Eesti Pank.

However, as Table 14 shows, more than a third of revolving credit cards in circulation are inactive, so the fundamental challenge for all Estonian retail banks is to drive greater usage of existing cards. An inactive card is defined as a card not used once in the reporting period.

In 2024, figures for the percentage of inactive cards stood at 16.9% for debit cards, an improvement from 19.4% in 2009. For credit cards, the figure was 44.1% inactive cards in 2024, down from 44.7% for 2009.

14 - Payment Cards in Estonia by Type in 2024
Cards% of total% inactiveGR 23/24GR 5YCAGR 5Y
Debit cards1,725,26180.6%16.9%1.71%11.15%2.02%
- cash-only cards1,3760.1%34.6%-24.40%-56.12%-8.41%
- debit cards1,723,88580.5%16.9%1.74%11.28%2.03%
Credit cards 416,41219.4%44.1%31.98%30.49%6.13%
- revolving credit cards168,0837.8%37.0%-0.09%15.70%0.87%
- charge cards838353.9%50.4%359.85%204.16%25.67%
- credit card with combined repayment78,2913.7%42.9%-0.34%-16.54%1.12%
- instalment cards78,2913.7%50.7%67.26%49.25%10.52%
Total cards 2,141,673 100.0%18.8%6.46%14.45%2.75%
Source: Eesti Pank (Central Bank of Estonia).

Card Fraud

Card fraud is one of the most fascinating aspects of the payments industry, not least because it is relentless and mutating. EMV implementation and 3D-Secure, combined with Strong Customer Authentication (SCA), have done much to reduce domestic losses from lost and stolen cards in Europe. However, the war against fraud losses and the changing face of fraud continues to be a threat for the payments industry, including Estonia.

The global card fraud challenges are Card-Not-Present fraud (CNP), cross-border fraud and counterfeiting on non-EMV cards. CNP fraud accounted for 80% of the total value of card fraud losses in 2020. From 2017, a new payment fraud category are fraud losses on contactless card payments. International card fraud continues to be smaller in scale than domestic card abuse but is proportionately far more common. And of course, fraudulent cross-border transactions on cards continue to grow on all purchase channels.

Losses from card fraud on the internet and cross-border fraud on domestic cards have grown significantly. Following EMV implementation, card fraud has moved increasing to countries where POS terminals or online shops have not yet been migrated to EMV and SCA, respectively, and to cross-border fraud with compromised cards.

The breakdown of card fraud losses by method of compromise already indicates the importance of distinguishing between domestic and cross-border fraud losses. The method of compromise covers the means by which fraudsters obtain payment cards or card details. Notable methods of compromise in a complex payment world are CNP fraud based on theft of card credentials and card lost and stolen fraud followed by growing ID fraud and by cross-counterfeit fraud.

The main method of compromise responsible for losses in many European countries is now the theft of card credentials. A high proportion of these card fraud losses are caused by the growth in e-commerce, and still the lack of use of strong customer authentication methods such as 3D-Secure.

In a post data-breach world, identity information, payment credentials, account credentials and responses to security questions are widely available for purchase in bulk. Complete fraud exploits and zero-day attacks are also easily available on the black market for outright purchase or as a hosted / fully managed service.

In the digital payments world and having the changing face of fraud in mind, there are significant challenges for card issuing banks, payment service providers, and their supporting processors.

As most POS card transactions are authorised online-to-issuer, acquirer fraud rates in Estonia are under control except for offline vending machines, e-commerce, and a few other hotspots. Obviously, EMV implementation has contributed significantly to declining fraud rates.

Estonian banks are pushing 3D-Secure, offer PIN-change services at ATMs and SMS notification to inform cardholders about the use of their credit card. The increasing numbers of chip technology cards, contactless cards and display cards have led to improved safety of payment transactions. Credit card fraud prevention measures taken have been pushing 3D-Secure, updating banks’ fraud prevention systems and real-time scoring, and implementing more rule-based fraud control mechanisms.

Eesti Pank analysed the security of card payments in 2021 to assess the volume and nature of card fraud. The analysis used data from 2019, as those are the most recent data that can be compared to those of other European countries. Bank cards issued by Estonian banks were used for 19,900 frauds around the world at a total value of €1.3 million. Like elsewhere in Europe, the number of frauds made with Estonian bank cards has increased. Bank cards issued by Estonian banks are only used for one-fifth as many frauds as the average in European countries. Frauds with Estonian bank cards are mainly committed in other countries, with two-thirds of them committed in European countries. One-third of the frauds are committed outside Europe, while there are very few frauds within Estonia.

Card fraud in Estonia has been on the rise in recent years, with losses increasing significantly in 2024 and 2025.

In 2024, criminals stole around €2.3 million from Estonian citizens due to bank and payment fraud. In the first eight months of 2025 alone, losses surged to approximately €6.1 million, more than doubling the previous year’s figures. June 2025 was particularly severe, with losses exceeding €2 million in that month alone.​

The number of fraud cases and average losses per case have also risen substantially. Fraudsters are becoming more sophisticated, using Estonian language and artificial intelligence to impersonate bank employees and appear credible during scams.

Fraud Rates:

According to the European Central Bank (ECB) and Estonia’s central bank reports, Estonia has had relatively low card fraud rates around 0.01% of total transaction value in recent years, although the trend is increasing. According to ECB figures for H1 2023, the value of card fraud as a share of transaction value in Estonia was 0.021% (EU/EEA average: 0.031%) and 0.004% (EU/EEA average: 0.015%) by volume.

Most fraud happens via card-not-present (online) transactions and cross-border payments.

Card Use

From 2020, payments with Estonian cards showed strong five-year compound annual growth rates by number and by value at 5.76% and 9.32%, respectively. Payments outstripped cash withdrawals as long ago as 2003. In 2024, payments by number were 12.55-times higher than cash withdrawals.

The impact of the COVID-19 pandemic on the decline in ATM transactions seemed to have returned in 2023 and in 2024, POS payments sustained an uptrend (+4.41%). Similarly, remote payments increased by 20.51% in volume and 29.38% in value.

In 2024, there were 490.65 million card payments (+6.49% from 2023) with a total value of €10.94 billion (+8.40% vs 2023). The ATV per card payment accounted for €22.31, proving that Estonian cards are also used for low-value payments. There were on average 229.2 payments per card per year.

The total card payments include cross-border payments on Estonian cards amounting to 226.22 million card payments (+39.51%) with a total value of €5.67 billion (+36.11%). In 2024, cross-border card payments on Estonian cards accounted for 46.11% by number and 51.87% by value.

Included in the card payments total for 2024 were 71.56 million remote payments on cards in online shops (+20.51%) with a total value of €2,648.3 million (+29.38% vs 2023).

15 - Payments with Estonian Cards
202020212022202320242025FGR 23/24GR 5YCAGR 5Y
Cards with a payment function1,870,7591,895,8711,968,6132,009,8802,140,2972,094,5736.49%14.00%2.66%
Ø payments per card per year191.3202.2218.0229.3229.2246.70.00%16.07%3.03%
Ø payment value per card per year€3,642.3€4,137.8€4,742.0€5,024.8€5,114.8€5,649.51.79%36.94%6.49%
Payments (m)357.79383.31429.18460.77490.65516.746.49%32.32%5.76%
- thereof remote payments (m)10.0044.7552.6759.3871.5677.4320.51%1897.29%82.01%
- thereof POS payments (m)347.79338.56376.52401.39419.09439.314.41%14.13%2.68%
- thereof cross-border payments (m)40.1444.78126.74162.15226.22307.4939.51%363.98%35.92%
- thereof on debit cards (m)331.15357.52400.77429.46454.15481.705.75%34.24%6.07%
- thereof on credit cards (m)26.6425.7925.7028.8931.8235.0510.14%-2.01%-0.41%
Value of payments (€m)6,813.87,844.79,335.210,099.310,947.111,833.48.40%56.11%9.32%
- thereof remote payments value (€m)169.71,374.11,747.12,046.92,648.32,915.629.38%3175.55%100.94%
- thereof POS payments (€m)6,644.16,470.67,588.28,052.48,298.88,917.73.06%19.73%3.67%
- thereof cross-border payments (€m)1,275.01,634.43,408.34,171.95,678.57,282.036.11%246.79%28.24%
- thereof on debit cards (€m)6,045.37,021.88,321.48,961.79,663.510,617.77.83%60.13%9.87%
- thereof on credit cards (€m)768.5822.8895.01,015.51,111.11,215.79.42%13.67%2.60%
ATV per card payment€19.04€20.47€21.75€21.92€22.31€22.901.79%17.98%3.36%
Source: ECB, Eesti Pank.

Cash Withdrawals – The number and value of domestic withdrawals with Estonian cards fell for the first time in 2009 and has continued to decline, testifying to the increasing maturity of the Estonian market and to higher use of payments with cards at POS terminals. In contrast, there is a growing ATM use abroad with Estonian cards, especially in Finland and in the neighbouring Baltic countries. Like in other CEE countries, some Estonians use cross-border ATMs for withdrawing cash as this amount is delayed-debited from their current account. Thus, a kind of temporary overdraft is generated.

In 2024, there were 39.11 million cash withdrawals on cards (-14.76%) with a total value of €6.03 billion (-12.42% vs 2023). The ATV per cash withdrawal accounted for €154.13, and there were on average 18.3 cash withdrawals per card per year.

16 - Cash Withdrawals with Estonian Cards
202020212022202320242025FGR 23/24GR 5YCAGR 5Y
Cards with a cash function1,872,8941,898,0061,970,6252,011,7002,141,6732,198,0936.46%13.88%2.63%
Ø withdrawals per card per year14.513.423.822.818.316.7-19.93%3.83%0.76%
Ø Total cash withdrawals value per card per year€1,911.7€1,856.1€3,604.9€3,421.2€2,814.5€2,467.4-17.74%30.06%5.40%
Number of cash withdrawals (m)27.1825.4046.8545.8839.1136.73-14.76%18.25%3.41%
- thereof withdrawals domestic (m)26.2924.5145.8244.5437.2934.25-16.29%17.93%3.35%
- thereof withdrawals abroad (m)0.890.891.041.341.822.4836.33%25.26%4.61%
Value of ATM cash withdrawals (€bn)3.583.527.106.886.035.42-12.42%48.12%8.17%
- thereof values domestic (€bn)3.443.406.906.565.534.67-15.63%43.57%7.50%
- thereof values abroad (€bn)0.140.120.200.320.490.7552.92%129.75%18.10%
ATV per cash withdrawal on cards€131.74€138.72€151.62€150.02€154.13€147.662.74%25.26%4.61%
Total cash withdrawals per capita20.419.135.233.628.426.7-15.30%13.96%2.65%
Total cash withdrawals value per capita€2,694.1€2,649.8€5,334.1€5,038.8€4,384.7€3,945.3-12.98%42.74%7.38%
Source: ECB, Eesti Pank.

Card Use Per Capita

Card use at POS in Estonia is high compared to other European countries. In 2024, there were 330.4 debit card payments per capita (+5.1% from 2023) while credit card use was 23.1 transactions per capita (+9.4% vs 2023). In total, there were 353.5 payments per capita giving the ninth-highest card use per capita in Europe, and 28.4 cash withdrawals per capita.

17 - Card Payments Per Capita in Estonia
20202021202220232024GR 23/24GR 5YCAGR 5Y
Debit card payments249.2268.9300.9314.4330.45.1%29.4%5.3%
Debit card value€4,548.8€5,281.7€6,248.3€6,561.1€7,029.67.1%54.3%9.1%
Credit card payments20.019.419.321.223.19.4%-5.6%-1.1%
Credit card value€578.3€618.9€672.1€743.4€808.28.7%9.5%1.8%
Total card payments269.2288.3320.2335.6353.55.3%26.3%4.8%
Total card value€5,127.1€5,900.6€6,920.3€7,304.5€7,837.87.3%48.1%8.2%
Source: calculated using ECB data.

Debit Card Use

In 2024, there were 1.72 million cards with a debit function (+1.74%) and 454.15 million payments (+5.75% from 2023) giving an average of 263.4 payments per debit card per year (+3.94%). Since 2020, Estonian debit card payments have shown notable five-year compound annual growth rates (CAGR: +6.07%).

The payment value on debit cards amounted to €9.66 billion and showed a growth rate of 7.83% compared to 2023. The ATV per debit card payment accounted for €21.28.

18 - Payments with Estonian Debit Cards
202020212022202320242025FGR 23/24GR 5YCAGR 5Y
Cards with a debit function1,558,7921,595,9751,657,1301,694,3571,723,8851,761,1411.74%11.28%2.16%
Ø Payments per debit card per year212.4224.0241.8253.5263.4273.53.94%20.63%3.82%
Ø Total debit card value per year€3,878.2€4,399.7€5,021.6€5,289.1€5,605.7€6,028.85.99%43.89%7.55%
Number of payments with debit cards (m)331.15357.52400.77429.46454.15481.705.75%34.24%6.07%
Value of payments with debit cards (€m)6,045.37,021.88,321.48,961.79,663.510,617.657.83%60.13%9.87%
ATV per payment on debit cards €18.26€19.64€20.76€20.87€21.28€22.041.97%19.29%3.59%
Source: ECB, Eesti Pank.

Credit Card Use

In 2024, there were 332,577 cards with a credit function (+11.87%) and 31.82 million payments (+10.14% vs 2023) giving an average of 95.7 payments per credit card per year (-1.54%). Since 2020, Estonian credit card payments showed a five-year compound annual growth rate of -0.41%.

The payment value on credit cards amounted to €1.11 billion and increased by 9.42% from 2023. The ATV per credit card payment accounted for €34.92.

19 - Payments with Estonian Credit Cards
202020212022202320242025FGR 23/24GR 5YCAGR 5Y
Cards with a credit function311,967299,896311,483297,292332,577333,43211.87%1.29%0.26%
Ø Payments per credit card per year85.486.082.597.295.7105.1-1.54%-3.26%-0.66%
Ø Total credit card value per year€2,463.4€2,743.7€2,873.5€3,415.7€3,340.8€3,646.0-2.19%12.22%2.33%
Number of payments with credit cards (m)26.6425.7925.7028.8931.8235.0510.14%-2.01%-0.41%
Value of payments with credit cards (€m)768.5822.8895.01,015.51,111.11,215.709.42%13.67%2.60%
ATV per payment on credit cards €28.85€31.90€34.83€35.15€34.92€34.69-0.66%16.00%3.01%
Source: ECB, Eesti Pank.

Leading Card Issuers

Swedbank reported 1.1 million bank cards in Estonia at end-2024, a 56% card market share. It issues Debit Mastercard cards and Mastercard credit cards.

There has been no split between debit and credit cards since 2006, when Swedbank, then Hansabank, reported 835,181 debit cards and 240,561 credit cards. During 2006, Hansabank launched the private label revolving credit card, Partnerkaart, with one of Estonia’s biggest retailers, Tallinna Kaubamaja. There have been no major changes in card strategy, which has been largely constant for many years.

SEB Pank/SEB Kort had issued more than 477,500 debit and credit cards as at end-2022. It issues cards branded Debit Mastercard and Mastercard credit cards. SEB also offers a virtual VISA card for secure online shopping and picture cards. In 2024, SEB Kort was said to have issued more than 3.5 million cards in the Nordic region.

From April 2020, SEB reduced the number of plastic cards in Estonia and introduced ISIC and ITIC bankcards, which are 82% made of corn, to replace classical cards. The bank only decreased its use of plastic by 230 kilograms in 2020.

In March 2013, SEB Pank introduced 3D-Secure in order to protect card payments online. First, Mastercard cards were incorporated into the programme.

In 2006, it launched a VISA Classic ‘Design your own’ card. Customers could submit their own card design over the internet or choose from a gallery of designs offered by the bank. It also offered the Basketball Card, in association with the Estonian Basketball Association, which offers sports-related loyalty benefits.

SEB offered a special programme, the Wiiralt debit card, named after the Estonian artist, which supported restoration of classic works of art, while another celebrated the 90th anniversary of the founding of Estonia.

SEB launched a number of packages in Estonia, linking banking services like cards and internet payments under the generic term SEB Plans. Customers pay a fixed monthly fee instead of being debited with various costs for different products and services.

Luminor Bank (previously Nordea Pank) issues Debit Mastercard cards and Mastercard branded credit cards. Luminor launched its Black Card in Latvia and Lithuania in 2020. The card was also launched in Estonia at the beginning of 2021. The bank also replaced its portfolio of Mastercard Maestro cards with VISA Debit cards.

Danske Pank issued contactless Debit Mastercard cards and contactless Mastercard credit cards. Effective 1 October 2019, Danske Pank no longer operates in Estonia or the other Baltic states.

LHV Pank issues contactless Mastercard Debit cards and contactless Mastercard credit cards. In March 2018, LHV Pank opened a UK branch to service the country’s FinTech market.

Coop Pank (previously Eesti Krediidipank) issues two types of Debit Mastercard cards and a Mastercard credit card.

Tallinna Äripank (now TBB Bank), the Tallinn Business Bank, is a full member of Mastercard International. It issues Debit Mastercard cards and Mastercard credit cards. The bank has two offices in Tallinn, and a branch in Narva.

Bigbank Pank – has issued a mobile Mastercard credit card, since 2016.

In February 2017, Bigbank Pank selected financial crime compliance data and technology from Accuity to streamline its account and payments screening processes and help better identify financial crime risk, highlight potential sanctions breaches and flag potentially high-risk customers and politically exposed people.

Digital & Card Payment Yearbooks