Overview

• Several lenders including BayernLB, Helaba and DZ Bank blocked PayPal SEPA direct debits after PayPal’s fraud-screening system failed late last week, a situation confirmed by the German savings banks association.
• Reporting in Süddeutsche Zeitung put the halted volume at more than €10 billion, with funds remaining in customer accounts and many merchants awaiting receipts.
• PayPal described the incident as a temporary service interruption, said the cause was identified and fixed, and posted a notice that delays affected a small number of accounts.
• Banks and industry bodies said customers are protected under SEPA rules, payment flows have largely resumed since Tuesday morning, and a backlog of manual checks could take days to clear.
• Regulators were notified; PayPal’s European operations are supervised in Luxembourg, the ECB has inquired with banks, and no public confirmation links the outage to recent Darknet credential claims.