IT glitch

Card payments disrupted in several countries

Card payment transactions were disrupted in several European countries on Thursday. The problems affected debit and credit cards, according to a spokesperson for the German Banking Industry. However, disruptions were also reported in Austria and Switzerland.

The German Federal Office for Information Security announced that "various financial institutions are currently experiencing disruptions in card payment transactions". They are in contact with those affected and the relevant authorities.

The reason for the disruptions are problems at an IT service provider and at providers connected to it, the German Banking Industry spokesperson was further quoted as saying by the tech website teltarif.de. According to the current state of knowledge, however, a cyber attack can be ruled out.

"Working flat out on a solution"
According to the report, the affected IT service provider is First Data, part of the US group Fiserv, which confirmed "a technical problem with some processing services" on request. "We are working hard to solve the problem and will inform our customers as soon as possible," it said.

As reported by Bayrischer Rundfunk, the problems are said to primarily affect the Sparkassen- und Giroverband (DSGV), Volks- und Raiffeisenbanken and Deutsche Bank. However, reports of problems with payments using Visa or Mastercard credit cards were also received from Austria and Switzerland on disruption websites such as allestörungen.at. However, there is no information on the exact extent and cause of the problem.

ATMs not affected
According to teltarif.de, anyone affected by the disruption can try to switch to another debit or credit card if necessary. Otherwise, the only option until the fault has been rectified is to use cash - ATMs are not affected by the disruption, as a DSGV spokesperson said.