Finnish Fuel Stops About to Get a Lot Easier with S-Bank

While many may not think much of stopping to get gas, there are a lot of steps in the process that could be slimmed down.

Park the car, put the nozzle in, pump the gas, walk into the station and pay, and then leave. Not exactly an inconvenience, at least if you know just how much gas you want.

An increasing number of stations requiring payment in advance can make things rough if you just want to fill the tank. S-Bank, however, is poised to make this an easier process in Finland.

S-Bank is bringing out a new feature to its S-Mobile app for iPhone, allowing users to combine mobile banking and mobile fueling in one package. With S-Mobile’s new feature, users need only get out to handle the pump duties; the app allows for a mobile payment to be made from the car once the pumping is concluded, handling payment directly from the mobile app.

That means there’s no need for gas stations to add quick response (QR) codes at the pump, putting a premium on simplicity.

The app can also include loyalty programs for the mobile customer, coupons specific to a customer’s needs, and even navigation options to show the user the way to the nearest gas station, great for those times when tanks run dry in unfamiliar locations.

Since S-Bank has fully 2.8 million customers to its credit, that’s a potentially huge market for easy gas station access in a Finnish winter, where the notion of getting out of the car is nothing short of disastrous.

While it does still require some getting out of the car, the end result is greatly improved convenience, and all from using one mobile app.

It’s hard not to approve of that on general principles, but throw in the ability to stay out of the weather in winter and that only improves things. This isn’t a big change for a lot of mobile device users, which makes it accessible, and the benefits it provides are likewise hard to pass up.

Minimal investment for fairly high return—in terms of time and hassle saved—makes this a mobile payments project to watch. Its users should welcome it for the added convenience, and in general, this is one great reason mobile payments could catch on.