Baptiste Morin, edited by Laura Laplaud 08:41, December 08, 2022

This is the subject that animates many conversations: load shedding.

In the event of excessive electricity consumption, the French could suffer power cuts for a maximum of two consecutive hours and several sectors could be impacted.

How to withdraw money from an ATM without electricity?

Response elements.

Banking is one of the sectors best prepared to face the risks of load shedding.

These possible power outages still raise a large number of questions about their consequences.

Are we ready, for example, to last two hours without electricity?

How will we pay or withdraw money?

Are the banks in the starting blocks?

Response elements.

All banking activities depend on electricity

Entrance locks, ATMs, financial operations… All banking activities depend on electricity.

No less than 800 transactions take place every second in France.

So obviously, the threat of load shedding raises fears of the worst.

But the banking sector is one of the best prepared.

Generators, back-up batteries, redundant servers… Banks are critical infrastructures.

The law therefore forces them to organize themselves to ensure the continuity of their activities, whether in the event of a pandemic, natural disasters, cyberattacks or technological failure.

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48,000 ATMs in France

"The generators that supply the data centers are guaranteed to operate beyond the two hours that would be scheduled for scheduled load shedding. I have the figure in mind of 96 hours, which is a recognized standard", indicates Charles Cuvelier, director of the security of the computer systems of the Belgian bank Belfius.

On the agency side, the risk is limited to a temporary closure.

And if ATMs were affected, the French Banking Federation indicates that 48,000 ATMs are present in France.

A working vending machine should therefore be nearby.