FILE PHOTO: A credit card is used on a payment terminal at a shop near Nantes, France, in this illustration picture taken November 6, 2023. REUTERS/Stephane Mahe/File Photo
HELSINKI (Reuters) - Finland, Sweden, Norway, Denmark and Estonia are planning to roll out a system of offline card payments to provide a back-up if internet connections are lost, including due to sabotage, Bank of Finland board member Tuomas Valimaki said on Wednesday.
The plan comes after the Baltic Sea region has suffered several instances of unexplained damage to critical undersea infrastructure in recent years, and as Western intelligence services have accused Russia of committing various acts of sabotage - a charge the Kremlin rejects.
