In April 2025, a power outage hit Spain and Portugal, leaving around 55 million people suddenly unable to make digital payments. Today, Mastercard announced new requirements for offline payments across its entire European network. These standards aim to ensure that payments can continue even during power or network outages.
Starting from February 2027, all newly issued Mastercard cards in Europe will be enabled for offline payments. By May 2027, all newly installed payment terminals and replacement devices must also support offline payments. Once these requirements are implemented across Europe, consumers will be able to use chip and PIN to pay for everyday items in supermarkets, petrol stations, pharmacies, and ticket machines even during outages.
Offline payments work by securely storing spending limits on the card's chip. If a terminal loses connection, the transaction can be locally authorised—up to a limit of 200 euros per transaction. This limit is pre-set by the cardholder's bank. Once the connection is restored, the transaction is submitted for settlement.
Mastercard has already successfully implemented offline payments in Denmark, Sweden, Estonia, and Latvia. When a recent storm hit Latvia, card payments continued to operate in stores supplied by backup generators. In Denmark, a technical failure earlier this year disconnected terminals from the payment system. Thanks to Mastercard's contingency procedures, many transactions could still be processed at retailers.
After consulting partners, national governments, regulators, and central banks, Mastercard is now expanding this feature across Europe.
The rollout is linked to measures Mastercard has taken over the past twelve months to bolster the resilience of European payment networks—including investments in local infrastructure and cybersecurity.
"Even if power or networks go down, people still need food, petrol, and medicine," says Brice van de Walle, Executive Vice President, Core Payments at Mastercard. "We have seen that offline payments can make a significant difference in emergencies. By extending this technology across Europe, we're helping people to pay for what they need, even in unforeseen situations."
Offline payments will be gradually available from 2027 in the following European countries:
Countries with Offline Payment Options
Albania, Andorra, Belgium, Bosnia and Herzegovina, Bulgaria, Denmark (including Faroe Islands and Greenland), Germany, Estonia, Finland (including Åland Islands), France (including Guadeloupe, French Guiana, Martinique, Mayotte, Réunion, St. Barthélemy, St. Martin [French part]), Gibraltar, Greece, Guernsey, Ireland, Iceland, Isle of Man, Israel, Italy, Jersey, Kosovo, Croatia, Latvia, Liechtenstein, Lithuania, Luxembourg, Malta, Monaco, Montenegro, Netherlands, North Macedonia, Norway (including Svalbard and Jan Mayen), Austria, Poland, Portugal (including Azores and Madeira), Romania, San Marino, Serbia, Slovakia, Slovenia, Spain (including Canary Islands, Ceuta and Melilla), Sweden, Switzerland, St. Helena, Ascension and Tristan da Cunha, St. Pierre and Miquelon, Czech Republic, Hungary, United Kingdom (including Falkland Islands, South Georgia and South Sandwich Islands), Vatican City, Cyprus.
Contact
Oliver Jonas, Director
Communications Germany and Switzerland
oliver.jonas@mastercard.com