It made news in every part of the world, from France to Indonesia and the US – with the New Year Estonia joined the eurozone. Also hitting the news was the SEB ATM where the first euros were officially withdrawn by Prime Minister Andrus Ansip.
When asked to provide the ATM for the first euro withdrawal, SEB didn't think twice. But as the momentous event had been a failure in the latest countries to join the eurozone the challenge was tremendous. The team responsible, however, was confident of being able to deliver.
The moments before the first withdrawal were certainly uneasy, so there was a collective sigh of relief that Prime Minister Ansip received the first 20 euro note from any ATM in Estonia. The Prime Minister, holding the note in front of SEB's ATM, was the "photo of the day" for the gathered international media.
Head of SEB in Estonia Riho Unt says the changeover was smooth both in terms of IT systems and service to customers. “The ATMs were all filled with euros, and most importantly, worked from the first minutes of 2011," Unt says. "Our card payments worked throughout the night and we even opened our e-channels 40 minutes before the deadline. Our clients remained calm and during euro-night only 1 per cent of money in ATMs was taken out.”
Overall, the total amount of work put into the euro project was the equivalent of one person working for 36 years, Priit Kuusik, project manager, estimates. “SEB had worked with the changeover plan for more than 18 months by the time euro-day came and for good reason. The euro changeover was the biggest project in Estonian banking – starting from analysing and implementing changes in IT-systems to gathering the kroons and kroon coins in use and distributing euros and euro coins safely to branches. Everything was planned, tested several times and when the time was right, carried out like in a well-oiled machine.”