Germany Payments

Content on Germany payments for high-risk merchants (iGaming/betting, FX/CFD, crypto/VASP, adult, nutraceuticals, travel, subscriptions). Coverage includes:

• Rails & methods: cards with local girocard co-badging (Visa/Mastercard), 3DS2/SCA, SEPA SCT & SCT Inst, SEPA Direct Debit, giropay, Sofort/Klarna Pay Now, PayPal, Apple Pay/Google Pay, and leading BNPL options.

• Optimization: local vs cross-border acquiring, issuer/BIN and product-type routing, TRA/LVP SCA exemptions, German-language descriptors, retry logic, and failover to APMs to lift approvals.

• Compliance: PSD2/RTS SCA, GDPR, AML/KYC/KYB & KYT, sanctions/geofencing, BaFin supervision for payment institutions (ZAG). Notes for restricted high-risk categories (e.g., GGL rules for gambling).

• Ops & payouts: EUR settlement, SEPA payouts, reconciliation/webhooks, refund vs. chargeback flows, and reporting expectations for German acquirers/PSPs.

Authoritative outbound resources about Germany payments:

• European Payments Council (SEPA)

• BaFin — payment services (ZAG) overview

• giropay (official)

• girocard (official)

• GGL — German gambling regulator

• EBA — PSD2/SCA & RTS