Vatican says Card Payments to Resume as Ban Lifted

The Vatican has reached an agreement with the Italian banking authorities, which will allow the resumption of debit and credit card payments in the city state, which have been the subject of
a ban
 since the beginning of this year.

“Credit card payments in the Vatican city state are once more activated,” said Father Federico Lombardi at a news briefing. He added that Swiss group Aduno will take on responsibility for electronic payment (e-payment) services used by tourists and pilgrims visiting its shops and museums

The Bank of Italy (BoI) suspended all bank card payments on Vatican territory from 1 January and ordered Deutsche Bank Italia (DBI), which had managed e-payments, to turn off its systems in response to complaints that the city state had been deficient in introducing new anti-money laundering (AML) measures. The BoI said it was not required to approve the new arrangement as Aduno is not based in the European Union.

A spokeswoman for Aduno, which is owned by Switzerland’s banks, said the company had already begun to provide card payments services at Vatican museums Tuesday, and would shortly add online payments for the museum website. She added that card providers MasterCard and Visa had both approved the new arrangement.

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