Google Pay can already be used with Erste Bank cards in Hungary, and financial institution customers can register their cards with just a few clicks on their Android devices, George’s platform. All cards at the bank can be made eligible (token), regardless of whether they are Mastercard, Visa, debit or credit cards. With this, Erste is the first Hungarian bank to offer Google Pay for Visa cards and the first to offer a card platform-independent solution for mobile payments on Android and iOS platforms.
Mobile payment solutions ensure exceptional security for users, whether they are paying at a storage terminal, online stores or through apps. Recognizing devices during contactless payments also increases security, while keeping transactions simple and quick for users, writes the bank, which anticipates the introduction of Google Pay to deploy mobile payments faster.
In Hungary, the number of Android devices is about five times the number of iOS devices, but at the moment the last customer base is using the mobile payment solution more actively. At Erste, 60 percent of token cards and customers are currently associated with Apple Pay, while the solution share is 70 percent higher for active devices. In addition, Apple Pay users pay three times as much with a mobile phone or card as customers who download the bank’s mobile payment Android app so far, he said. Laszlo Beck Bala, head of digital channels and call center at Erste Bank, who therefore expects increased activity from the introduction of Google Pay. The spread of mobile payment solutions is facilitated by the availability of large international mobile payment solutions on Erste business cards.
With the introduction of Google Pay, Erste’s digital platform, George, will be more complete, the bank wrote. Introduced in February of this year, George’s user count crossed half a million in six months, and Erste Bank’s digitally active customer share rose from 54 percent at the end of last year to nearly 60 percent. 70 percent of customers use the mobile app, up to 50 percent now only banking with George on mobile, and half of customers log on to the platform at least every four days. Whereas the old mobile banking app was used by customers an average of 12 times per month, the George App 15 times per month and the number of transactions is twice that of the previous netbank and mobile banking interface.
