Swedbank: Local stores to offer cash withdrawals
Estonia's largest private bank, Swedbank, will move free cash withdrawals from bank buses, which currently travel around rural areas in Estonia, to local stores.
The plan affects around 50 settlements around Estonia with the change coming in the next few months.
Bank spokesmen said they will begin negotiations with municipality heads to choose which stores will be able to offer the service.
“This is very similar to usual card transactions, one must enter a card into the bank terminal, insert the pin code and the desired sum and the shopkeeper will then hand the client the cash,” Egon Jekabson, head of Swedbank's west Estonia division, said.
Kambja municipality head Ivar Tedrema said a bank bus only comes a few times each month, but stores are open from 9:00 to 22:00. He said banks must first calculate how much cash revenue shops have. Tedrema said other bank services will be offered by phone.
Editor: J.M. Laats