Interesting facts

A KPMG survey singles out Estonia as the most advanced mobile payments market in Central and East Europe.

Estonia has clearly advanced beyond the initial m-payments phase while most other Central and East European countries still have much room for improvement, KPMG Baltics said.

"Estonia stands out among CEE countries by its mobile ID solutions, among other things," said Veiko Kullaste, adviser with KPMG Baltics, according to whom Estonian SMS loans also are mentioned in the report.

According to the survey, there are numerous m-payment applications in Estonia but apart from m-parking they have not really caught on. Since 2000 some 55-60 percent of parking sales is generated by mobile phone in Estonia and the method has spread to the other Baltic states.

What also strikes the eye in Estonia is the close cooperation between mobile network operators and banks. Mobile payment transactions are executed through the Bank Card Center set up by major banks originally for processing and supporting card transactions (it has by now been sold to a foreign investor) and a certification center too has been established here.

M-banking applications are in active use in Estonia whereas in Romania only three out of 29 banks provide such services. When it comes to m-banking, the Baltic states are the clear leader and the only countries with services that go beyond simple transactions, the report says.

The survey observes that as cash transactions are on the decline and mobile penetration exceeds 100 percent, the existing environment is favorable for the development of m-payment systems.

On the other hand, a correlation between mobile penetration rates and the development of m-payments is hard to establish. The survey notes, for instance, than even though Lithuania ranks second in Europe by mobile penetration the number and range of m-payment initiatives is surprisingly low.

Source: BNS