Visa disruption was hardware problem

A hardware issue has caused problems for Visa customers across Europe and the UK, the card provider says, dismissing any notion of a cyberattack.

Visa has apologised after a system failure prevented card payments across the UK and Europe. (AAP)

Visa says a problem that left people across Europe unable to use their cards was caused by a hardware fault, not a cyberattack.

The card payments company says services are back to normal and its systems are working at "full capacity" on Saturday.

It says the problem was caused by "a hardware failure within one of our European systems" and wasn't the result of "unauthorised access."

Consumers in Britain, Ireland and other European countries reported having credit and debit card payments declined on Friday, and many businesses said they couldn't process Visa transactions.

The bank HSBC said Friday that the "industry-wide issue" affected Visa payments, though ATMs were still working.