As a German, I think ot's always intersting to get an outsiders perspective. The article strikes me as absurd, though.

There is a deep caution against technology here, especially if it's foreign technology. There were numerous attempts by German banks to reinvent the wheel with incompatible payment systems (Geldkarte, ...) none of which could be used for online payment. All of them failed. I would also counter the efficiency argument: having recently visited Norway for vacation, I'm still impressed with the efficiency of grocery shopping where everyone pays with their credit cards. Imho it's a mixture of privacy concerns and generally negative attitudes towards technology.