Banks, Estonia, Financial Services

"The new limit has been set at the central systems' level, but requires the updating of parameters in card payment terminals as well. As of noon today [Tuesday], approximately 75 percent of active payment terminals have accessed the central systems to load the new parameters and enforced the new limit. Work on enforcing the new limit across the entire terminal fleet is underway," Katrin Taliharm, managing director of the Estonian Banking Association, told LETA/BNS.

The new limit takes effect from March 23 until the emergency situation declared by the government comes to an end. Those who are able to link their bank card to Apple Pay or Google Pay, will be able to also pay for purchases exceeding the 50-euro limit, the Banking Association said.

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 are made within the current limit of 25 euros. When the limit is increased to 50 euros, it should allow for 95% of card payments to be carried out without contact. Considering that in the current emergency situation, one is advised to go shopping as seldom as possible, the average cost of a shopping basket has likely increased.

People can still set a contactless payment limit on their bank card. People still need to enter their PIN occasionally when they exceed a certain number of transactions or total sum of payments. Here, there may be differences from bank to bank because the conditions for using card-based payment limits and contactless mobile apps vary from bank to bank.