By Chrysostomos Tsoufis

Transactions with plastic money are increasing in our country, with the data of the Bank of Greece recording an increase of 15% in 2023, from 1.93 million last year to 2.21 million this year.

The value of these transactions was €103 billion, increased by 9% compared to €94 billion in 2022

On average, the Greek made 107 transactions with his card in 2023 compared to 94 in 2022, an increase of 14%. Especially for debit cards which have the lion’s share (over 90%) in number and also transactions, the relative change is 115 transactions this year from 101 last year.

The average Greek consumer spent €4,948 with their card – credit or debit – in 2023 from €4,556 last year, an increase of 8.6%. As the card penetrates more and more into our everyday life and its use increases, it makes sense to use it for the smallest value transactions as well. And the numbers show that. In 2022 the value of the average transaction was €48. In 2023 it fell 4.5% to €46.

Even more interesting will be these figures in a year so that the impact of the measures taken by the government to promote electronic payments can be measured. The most important of these is the obligation to have a POS for the 35 retail sectors – such as taxis, kiosks, pubs, cinemas, theaters and grocery stores among others – which in 2023 did not apply. These sectors occupy a large part of our daily lives, so there are prospects for a further significant increase in transactions.

It should be noted here that transactions through POS terminals increased from 22 million to 28 million an increase of 27%.

  • As for the active cards, however, the… system seems to have reached its “limits”. The data showed that at the end of 2023 their total number was 20.7 million, a marginal increase of 0.1% compared to 2022.
  • 17.6 million were debited (2.3 million prepaid)
  • 3.1 were million credit
  • 136,000 virtual

Along with the use of the cards, unfortunately, the incidents of fraud also increase. 43% was the increase in 2023 and now corresponds to 1 fraud transaction per 5,400 transactions.
46% is the increase in the value of fraud transactions and now we have €1 fraud value per €4,300 transaction value.

As to the type of fraud

  • There was a 34% increase in cases of remote transactions without the physical presence of the card
  • There was a 106% increase in POS terminal fraud
  • 58% was the increase in ATM transaction fraud

The figures show that for every €100 of damage

  • The €59 is borne by the cardholder
  • The €34 is borne by the recipient of payment services
  • And €7 goes to payment service providers that issue cards