Swedish banking group Swedbank has decided to stop issuing password cards from February this year but the existing cards can be used until February 2019.
The move is in line with Europe-wide law amendment that calls for more secure means for using banking and additional online services.
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According to the bank, about 230,000 of its clients currently use password cards for authentication in online or mobile banking, but this number said to be rapidly dwindling due to development of better technological approaches.
Swedbank Estonia head of customer service Ede Raagmets said: “Today, there already are several more secure possibilities for using bank and other e-services — Smart-ID, ID-card, Mobile ID or a PIN calculator.
“Even though password cards can be used for a year still, we advise that people do not leave starting to use another means until the last minute.”
The customer service head added that Smart-ID has become popular with smartphone users and is currently being used by more than 140,000 people in Estonia.
Raagmets further said: “For older customers, who do not use smartphones, a suitable option could be a PIN calculator, which automatically creates one-off passwords. Bank branch employees will gladly explain how to use a PIN calculator.”
