Bank card payments suspended in Vatican
The Bank of Italy has suspended all bank card payments in the Vatican
including for tickets to its famous museum until further notice because
of a failure to fully implement anti money laundering legislation,
Italian media reported on Thursday.
The payments have been suspended since January 1 after the Bank of
Italy ordered Deutsche Bank Italia, which handles bank card payments on
Vatican territory, to deactivate its terminals because of a lack of
authorisation for the transactions.
The Vatican museum, which was visited by five million tourists last
year who paid a total of 91.3 million euros ($120 million), will now be
asking for payments in cash, La Repubblica daily reported. The reports
quoted Italian central bank sources saying the Vatican does not respect
international anti money laundering norms and an Italian-registered bank
such as Deutsche Bank Italia can therefore not operate on its territory.
AFP |