What are the new payment methods used?
Debit card transactions continue to experience great growth as well digital money but even for purchases under two euros. “The number of consumers who pay for their coffee with a debit card is now greater than those who pay with cash,” says a coffee owner in downtown Athens. Something that happens now almost everywhere from the big supermarkets to the kiosks that have placed ATMs.
This fact is confirmed by the latest data of the Bank of Greece: The total number of active payment cards in circulation at the end of 2021 amounted to 19.7 million, an increase of 6% compared to 2020. In the sub-categories of cards, the number of debit cards increased by 7% and amounted to 16 , 8 million cards.
A significant increase was recorded for the fifth consecutive year in the issuance of prepaid cards, which amounted to 1.9 million, increased by 13%. The number of credit cards also increased by 2% to 2.9 million. Virtual cards increased by 7% to 107 thousand cards. The increasing number of online transactions seems to be the main reason for the continuing increase in the issuance of prepaid and virtual payment cards.
The total number payment card transactions amounted to 1.6 billion, from 1.1 billion in 2020, showing a significant increase of 44% compared to 2020. The number of transactions with debit cards amounted to 1.5 billion. from 1 billion last year, up 48%. Debit cards continued to be the main substitute for cash, with a 92% share in the total number of transactions with all types of payment cards.
The number of credit card transactions rose to 135 million, from 121 million in 2020, up 11%. Credit cards accounted for 8% of the total number of transactions. The value of payment card transactions stood at € 83 billion, up 25% from the previous year
Debit cards accounted for 93% of the total value of transactions with all types of payment cards, while credit cards accounted for 7%. The average number of transactions per card increased by 35% to 84 transactions, from 62 transactions last year. The average value of transactions per card increased by 18% to 4,186 euros, from 3,550 euros last year
The increase in the average value of transactions per card is mainly due to the number and value of debit card transactions, given their larger volume.
Transactions below 2 euros with plastic money
According to cardlink, more than 90% of transactions are intact, while there is an increasing trend for payments using smartphones. Greeks use their cards even for low value transactions. It is characteristic that in the Cardlink network, 39% (from 37% in 2020) of the total transactions concerned payments under 10 euros, 22% (from 20%) payments up to 5 euros and 7% (from 6%) were transactions worth less than 2 euros.
Other payment methods
But consumers are starting to use other forms of digital payments, such as the IRIS Payments promoted by DIAS with the direct transfer of money between consumers to show an extremely large increase
In particular, according to the data presented by the CEO of DIAS, the use of the IRIS P2P (Person to Person) service increased fivefold (+ 550%) in the first quarter of 2022 compared to the same period two years earlier. As Ms. Kambouridou explained, a company can now share the account (eg in the restaurant) by transferring money to each other through the IRIS option available to the partner banks in their mobile app (Alpha Bank, National Bank, Eurobank, Piraeus Bank).
An extension of this service is IRIS P2B (Person to Business), ie direct payments to professionals / small businesses, a service in which the registered professional bank accounts currently reach 69,000. The benefits of the service are, for businesses or professionals, that they receive debts from their customers within seconds. For the customers, that they make their payments knowing only the mobile number or the VAT number of the company, without knowing the IBAN. All that is needed is for both parties to have activated the IRIS service in mobile banking. For further convenience of the customer, the company can provide the mobile or TIN number in the form of a QR code to be scanned from the customer’s mobile banking app.
Payment of debts with QR code
Payment with RF / QR code is an additional option available to citizens, either for payment of traffic fees, or e-paravolou to the State, or for payment of Energy, Telecommunications, etc. bills. According to the latest data from DIAS, 8 out of 10 organizations / companies that cooperate with DIAS have adopted the new payment model, which, according to Ms. Kambouridou, “until November 2023 will be the new normal (new normal ) ».
Immediate payments
In addition, after connecting to the TIPS system last December, Greece belongs to the group of 27 countries in the European SEPA area that can send and receive direct payments within 10 seconds. In the last year, there has been a 100% increase in direct payments (intant payments) in our country, said Ms. Kambouridou.
E-shops are gaining share – International trends
The use of the IRIS service for electronic purchases (IRIS eCommerce) in the first quarter of 2022 also recorded an impressive 235% increase compared to the same period two years earlier. By pressing the IRIS button, consumers can pay in e-shops directly from their bank account, without using a card. This possibility is currently offered to their customers by the cooperating banks (Alpha Bank, National Bank, Eurobank, Piraeus Bank, and Viva wallet).
What we have seen over the last two years, due to the pandemic, is that the number of consumers shopping online has increased significantly. In fact, most people use their cell phones instead of their laptops or desktops. According to international trends, 56% of consumers prefer contactless transactions, while 61% avoid having a natural wallet with them. The trend today is to make our payments from the digital wallet we have on our mobile, ensuring convenience, immediacy and security
Indeed, the pandemic has acted as a catalyst for payments internationally, accelerating the shift of citizens to digital means of payment to the detriment of cash transactions, Ms. Kambouridou noted. Now, less than half of consumers (46%) use cash on a weekly basis, while 67% say they use their mobile phone more for payments today compared to two years ago. Under these conditions, the interbank transactions carried out through the DIAS systems increased by 17% in 2021 compared to 2020, said Ms. Kambouridou. He also noted that out of the 330 million transactions settled by DIAS last year, the interbank ATM was only 6.4m transactions (ie <2% of the total).
