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Girocard with the Maestro logo: Consistently bring it to the smartphone
Photo: Fabian Sommer / dpa
Owners of Maestro cards have to be prepared for changes - especially abroad, because the blue and red logo is to disappear from giro cards.
In Germany, on the other hand, banks and savings banks still want to hold on to the Girocard and upgrade it.
»The termination of the Maestro function may have given the public the false impression that the Girocard is no longer as usable as before.
But the opposite is the case,” said the deputy chief executive of the Association of German Banks (BdB), Henriette Peucker.
"We want to make the Girocard even more usable with new functions in online trading and in the digital world," she announced on behalf of the German Banking Industry Association (DK).
This year, the BdB is the leader of this umbrella organization of the five major banking associations in Germany.
For example, it is about the possibility of making a deposit, for example when reserving a hotel room or a rental car, said Peucker.
"And also about consistently bringing the Girocard to the smartphone and opening it up for in-app payments as well."
When exactly the new functions will come, Peucker left open: "It's not yet the moment to give a firm schedule.
The preparations are ongoing."
German banks are looking for new partners for foreign use
The Girocard, which many still call the EC card, is by far the most used bank card in Germany with 100 million copies issued.
The Girocard is used to pay more than 17 million times a day, and 42 percent of retail sales in Germany are settled in this way.
But the competition is fierce: Apple Pay and Google Pay, for example, also enable contactless payment at the cash register via smartphone, and the US company Paypal is also very popular with users in Germany for online payments.
It's about closing gaps in the Girocard system, said Peucker.
»The Girocard is the most widely used bank card in Germany and the most widely used means of payment at the tills in Germany.
We are therefore further developing the Girocard and aligning it even more closely with the needs of customers.«
Should consumers expect that the additional functions of the Girocard will cost them something?
"Each institute decides for itself on its product and pricing policy," Peucker replied, and at the same time said: "Payment functions are in competition, there are alternatives for customers.
Everyone is aware of that.«
The abolition of the Maestro function - an offer from Mastercard - will take effect on July 1, 2023. The credit card provider Mastercard justified the step, among other things, by saying that cards with the Maestro function are not compatible with many online portals.
So far, owners of giro cards with a blue and red Maestro logo have been able to use this card to pay and withdraw money abroad without any problems.
According to the DK, banks and savings banks are now choosing new partners for using the Girocard abroad or have already replaced the function.
Germany's banks and savings banks also want to make their payment offers more attractive by integrating the Girocard into a joint online payment process.
“The technical preparations have been completed and the offer is now being made available to customers,” said Peucker, summarizing the current status of this topic.
"The first dealer is already offering it."
In March 2021, the German banking industry announced that it would merge its online payment processes Paydirekt, Giropay and Kwitt under the Giropay brand.
From May 10, 2021, consumers were introduced to the new brand in a transition phase lasting several months.
Public-law, cooperative and private institutes want to make it possible by merging the payment methods to make payments on the Internet as easy as possible and to transfer money quickly from account to account - regardless of which bank the account is ultimately held with.
Paydirekt acts as the operating company for merging the online payment processes of banks and savings banks in Germany.
apr/dpa
