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Girocard
girocard is an interbank network and debit card service in Germany connecting virtually all automated teller machines (ATMs) and banks. It is based on standards and agreements developed by the German Banking Industry Committee.
German girocards are commonly co-branded with Mastercard's Maestro/Cirrus or Visa's V Pay logo, allowing cardholders to use them in other European countries. As another co-badging option, combined girocard/JCB cards were introduced in 2016.
The Deutscher Sparkassen- und Giroverband (German Savings Banks Association) has announced that upcoming Sparkassen-Cards will also function as full Debit Mastercard or Visa Debit cards in addition to girocards and will have a 16-digit Mastercard/Visa number to pay online. Some banks are phasing out girocards. DKB, for instance, starting in 2023 issues its customers a Visa Debit card and charges extra for a Girocard.
German banks formed an interbank network connecting virtually all German ATMs. The network used Eurocheque guarantee cards as ATM cards and did not have a name or trademark of its own. In 1991, the electronic cash debit card service was introduced using the same cards, replacing the Geldkarte ATM and POS scheme in the territory of former-East Germany. The cards used for all three payment methods were simply known as Eurocheque card (German Eurocheque-Karte).
When the Eurocheque system was disbanded at the end of 2001, the cards could no longer use the Eurocheque brand. However, German banks continued to use the EC logo, which was simply re-interpreted as "electronic cash" and the cards were colloquially known as an EC card (German EC-Karte). The ATM network still did not have a brand name and was generically called "Deutsches Geldautomaten-System" (German ATM System).
In 2007, the German Banking Industry Committee introduced "girocard" as a common name for electronic cash and the German ATM network. girocard purports to be SEPA-compliant, even though cards are only issued and accepted within Germany.
The girocard network is used for point-of-sale payments within Germany. Two principal processing methods can be used: chip-and-pin guaranteed girocard payment and chip-and-signature non-guaranteed Electronic Direct Debit (ELV, Elektronisches Lastschriftverfahren).
About 770,000 places in Germany accepted girocard payments in summer 2016 (approximately one location per 106 inhabitants). The slow pace of the expansion of the girocard acceptance network has attracted criticism from authors who have pointed out that, in the UK, the once-dominant Switch/Maestro debit cards were accepted at 571,268 locations in 2001 (one location per 103 inhabitants) and at over 900,000 places in 2005 – "from high street shops to pubs, opticians, websites, cinemas – even local councils".
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Girocard
girocard is an interbank network and debit card service in Germany connecting virtually all automated teller machines (ATMs) and banks. It is based on standards and agreements developed by the German Banking Industry Committee.
German girocards are commonly co-branded with Mastercard's Maestro/Cirrus or Visa's V Pay logo, allowing cardholders to use them in other European countries. As another co-badging option, combined girocard/JCB cards were introduced in 2016.
The Deutscher Sparkassen- und Giroverband (German Savings Banks Association) has announced that upcoming Sparkassen-Cards will also function as full Debit Mastercard or Visa Debit cards in addition to girocards and will have a 16-digit Mastercard/Visa number to pay online. Some banks are phasing out girocards. DKB, for instance, starting in 2023 issues its customers a Visa Debit card and charges extra for a Girocard.
German banks formed an interbank network connecting virtually all German ATMs. The network used Eurocheque guarantee cards as ATM cards and did not have a name or trademark of its own. In 1991, the electronic cash debit card service was introduced using the same cards, replacing the Geldkarte ATM and POS scheme in the territory of former-East Germany. The cards used for all three payment methods were simply known as Eurocheque card (German Eurocheque-Karte).
When the Eurocheque system was disbanded at the end of 2001, the cards could no longer use the Eurocheque brand. However, German banks continued to use the EC logo, which was simply re-interpreted as "electronic cash" and the cards were colloquially known as an EC card (German EC-Karte). The ATM network still did not have a brand name and was generically called "Deutsches Geldautomaten-System" (German ATM System).
In 2007, the German Banking Industry Committee introduced "girocard" as a common name for electronic cash and the German ATM network. girocard purports to be SEPA-compliant, even though cards are only issued and accepted within Germany.
The girocard network is used for point-of-sale payments within Germany. Two principal processing methods can be used: chip-and-pin guaranteed girocard payment and chip-and-signature non-guaranteed Electronic Direct Debit (ELV, Elektronisches Lastschriftverfahren).
About 770,000 places in Germany accepted girocard payments in summer 2016 (approximately one location per 106 inhabitants). The slow pace of the expansion of the girocard acceptance network has attracted criticism from authors who have pointed out that, in the UK, the once-dominant Switch/Maestro debit cards were accepted at 571,268 locations in 2001 (one location per 103 inhabitants) and at over 900,000 places in 2005 – "from high street shops to pubs, opticians, websites, cinemas – even local councils".
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