SmartDebit responds to cash only policy at the Vatican

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SmartDebit

(PRWEB UK) 19 January 2013

In a shock move by the Vatican, all cashless transactions have been banned. The now cash only venue is demanding that visitors pay for museum tickets, souvenirs and other services by no form of payment apart from cash.

According to the news article, Italy’s central bank has decided to block all electronic payments including debit and credit card transactions after the Vatican failed to comply and meet with European Union safeguards against money laundering. This meant that the current operator of electronic payments was no longer allowed to supply the Vatican with a service and so removed all digital payment processors.

Queues and anger was soon built up tourists as one American explained in the article, “A lot of tourists don’t have cash on them, so they have to get Euros and don’t know where to get them. Credit cards provide a useful service, which needs to be accessible to everybody, everywhere.”

SmartDebit specialise in Direct Debit payment collections on behalf of third party organisations, was surprised to hear of the move. A spokesperson from the company added, “This just goes to demonstrate how much we have come to rely and expect cashless transactions across the globe. It is hard to believe that ten years ago we wouldn’t have dreamed to go to a foreign tourist attraction with no actual money – these days it’s a regular occurrence.”

SmartDebit continues to follow any developments in cashless payments throughout the world.

About SmartDebit
SmartDebit is the UK’s leading Direct Debit service providers, specialising in payment processing services since 1998. A Bacs approved Bureau, scoring ‘Excellent’ in all five categories of the Bacs audit, and ISO 27001 compliant. Providing a complete range of services: Outsourcing; SmartDebit-Admin cloud based portal; SmartDebit-Online payer sign up; SmartDebit-API integrated solution and SmartDebit-Contingency.

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