Elisa announced that they have launched Elisa Lompakko in Finland, which is basically an online wallet that you can put money into using a bank transfer. Once you have the money in the account, you can either create virtual credit cards to be used for online payments or put money into your purse which can later be used together with MasterCard Paypass NFC based sticker.
Now, having lived in Estonia, I can go on about the state of the banking industry in Finland for hours. For instance how the paper based passwords without a master password is a security vulnerability. Or how I am used to an e-bank that calculates my expenditure automatically and provides me with a general break-down of what I spend my money on. But perhaps the feature I miss the most are virtual credit cards. They are safe, expendable and you can set the expiration date to be in just a month so as not to get caught into subscription based payments for years to come.
Finally, Elisa introduced a service which does just that. You can top-up the account and create a virtual MasterCard. It acts just as a real card but without a physical presence. That means it has the CVC and all the necessary components for you to be able to make online purchases.
If this isn’t advanced enough to your liking, you can also put the money into your Elisa Lompakko purse that can be linked to an NFC based sticker (Which you can attach to your phone, wallet, watch or anything else for that matter). This will allow you to use MasterCard PayPass to pay at restaurants, pharmacies, shops, etc. No more swiping, no more pin codes or signatures. Just tap and go. Finally, the future is nearly here.
The only limitation is that not all shops and restaurants in Finland have NFC ready card readers, but we are getting there. The other limitation is that the maximum amount of money your purse can hold is €150, which is actually a good thing because anyone can spend up to €25 without any identification. Basically, this is something I was personally waiting for and the moment I heard about it, I registered and ordered my sticker and a virtual card, which I already used to buy an adaptor online. Now if only banks in Finland would also become at least a little bit more modern and secure.
