§ 4-33. Banks' right of recourse when someone else caused the loss

This section governs the settlement between the parties in the payment chain after the customer (kunde) has received their money. If a bank has covered a loss under § 4-28 or § 4-32, and the cause lies with another bank or an intermediary, the bank can demand that the party who caused it cover the outlay and the loss.

The second paragraph is aimed at payment initiation service providers. If the payment initiation service provider is responsible for a payment that was not executed correctly, it must immediately compensate the loss when the account provider asks for it. This also covers losses resulting from a bank not using strong customer authentication, and the amount the account provider has had to refund under § 4-28 fifth paragraph. The third paragraph says something similar about strong customer authentication: Losses resulting from another bank or an intermediary not using it can be claimed by the bank that covered the loss.

The fourth paragraph provides two exceptions from liability. The bank is not liable for financial loss caused by unusual circumstances beyond its control, whose consequences it could not reasonably have foreseen or avoided. Nor is it liable when the loss results from the bank being bound by other obligations under or pursuant to law.

The fifth paragraph says that the rules in the section do not take away the bank's right of recourse under § 2-16 or its right to compensation under other rules. Recourse means seeking to recover an outlay. Under § 2-16, a person who has fulfilled someone else's monetary obligation can immediately demand that the debtor (skyldner) cover the outlay. If several parties are jointly and severally liable (each can be required to pay the full amount), the one who has paid can claim reimbursement from the others. The provision can be departed from by agreement, unless otherwise provided.

This section sits at the end of the series of liability rules. The bank's liability for transactions initiated by the payer (betaler) follows from § 4-28, and for those initiated by the payee (betalingsmottaker), from § 4-29. Liability for unauthorised transactions is set out in § 4-30, and reduction of the customer's liability in § 4-31. Refunds when the customer disputes liability are set out in § 4-32. The titles of § 4-47 and § 8-2 show that the rules on geographical scope and the transitional rules also affect this section.