Bancontact payments were disrupted in Belgium this morning due to a technical failure.
The problem has now been resolved, but lasted for nearly four hours, with users across Belgium reporting problems when trying to pay for items and use ATMs.
According to RTL Info, the issue came about as a result of a technical failure at Worldline, the company responsible for managing the network.
A spokesperson for Worldline told RTL Info that the company had experienced disruptions between 6.00 am and 9.49 am today, but confirmed the problem has now been resolved.
"Transactions are working normally again," they said, adding that the outage affected “a limited number of people”, with the problem limited to “certain cardholders”.
The spokesperson confirmed that the interruption was due to an “internal technical problem”. They told La Libre that there is no evidence yet of a cyber attack having caused the issue.
Bancontact brands itself as a unique Belgian payment scheme which simplifies transactions. The company is owned by five shareholders (Crelan, Belfius, BNP Paribas Fortis, ING and KBC).
It offers local payment methods, comprising Bancontact (which is present on all debit cards issued by Belgian banks) and Payconiq (which works via transfers), which can be used in almost all physical and online stores in Belgium.
