Our country may have made a leap in the field of electronic payments since the time of capital controls and later during the pandemic, but our familiarity with electronic money is far from the modern electronic solutions offered by technology. Also, the way we do online transactions is outdated and in many cases very expensive.

Electronic transactions, i.e. card payments, account-to-account credit transfers and standing orders, increased to 201 transactions per inhabitant in 2021, but according to the ECB data, Greece remains in a low place in the ranking, namely at 22nd. place compared to other European countries. . The position of the country is even lower in relation to credit transfers, i.е. payment of obligations directly from our bank account, which is the main channel for electronic transactions in most countries of Northern and Central Europe. Finally, we are well versed in direct debit, i.e. paying bills via a standing order from our account, which is also the main payment method in all mature European markets.

The Greeks were introduced to electronic money through the main debit card, which, however, is an expensive means of payment – even if its users are not aware of it – due to the exchange fees charged (about 50-80 cents for each transaction). 100 euros) of its use and which remain “unnoticed” by the cardholder, as they are included in the price of the products. Greek banks supported the spread of plastic money through bonus programs for the obvious reason that they charge fees to merchants, and thus support for other methods, such as transferring money directly from account to account, has weakened to an account) that is popular, safe and relatively inexpensive way to pay in Europe.

Characteristically, over the past 5 years (2017-2021), the use of cards has not only tripled, reaching from 505 million transactions to 1.5 billion, but their participation in the total turnover of electronic payments has also expanded, amounting to 69.5%. of the total number of electronic transactions carried out in the country, compared to 49.3% representing the euro area and 52% in the EU.

This trend has further improved our country’s ranking compared to other European economies, ranking – according to ECB data for 2021 – 17th place from 25th two years ago and leaving behind countries such as Europe’s largest economy, Germany, which remains at the bottom. in 24th place in terms of the use of cards per inhabitant.

At the opposite end are electronic payments via credit transfers, the share of which in our country decreased from 32.5% in 2017 to 20.3% respectively in the euro area. Greeks prefer credit transfers to the Eurozone average, but prefer to transfer money in the same bank to avoid interbank transfer fees. The trend is facilitated by the high concentration of the banking system in our country, four systemic banks control 96% of the market – according to the ECB – which to some extent simplifies the money transfer process, since everyone can have an account with all four banks, but this reduces the level of competition compared to other payment providers.

On the contrary, ECB data confirms that the Greeks do not have a culture of payment through standing money orders and it is characteristic that in the Eurozone the number of direct debits per inhabitant was 67.6 transactions, in the EU – 67.6 transactions. by 53.8 transactions, in Germany by 141.3 transactions and in Greece by only 2.4 transactions per inhabitant.

Greek banks have supported the spread of plastic money through bonus programs because they charge fees.

In any case, transferring money through a bank account without the appropriate tools is an inconvenient way, since it requires an IBAN, entering which in the age of speed for some is a “painful” process, when transferring money, if the immediate option is not selected, a loan is required from 1 up to 3 days to complete the transaction. In addition, in many cases it is also an expensive method of payment, since the transfer of money belongs to the era of money transfers, entails a commission and makes transferring money in small amounts unprofitable.

The cost of transferring amounts from account to account with the intervention of more than one bank, i.e. from bank A to bank B is charged at a rate of 1.5 euros and goes up to 5 euros even for small amounts, and if it is a foreign bank, the commission starts from 12 or 15 euros and scales depending on the amount, while in most European countries interbank money transfer is practically zero. In addition, from the long list of charges that banks publish on their websites, it is clear that the payment of bills such as energy companies, insurance companies, mobile phone companies, etc. it varies from bank to bank and ranges from 0.5 to 2 euros depending on the invoice and the agreement that the bank has concluded with each company, whereby the use of electronic funds amounts to a calculated amount depending on the number of transactions. what everyone does through their H/Y or mobile phone.

The response from the European Central Bank, which promotes interbank payments throughout Europe, was the creation of TIPS (Target2 Instant Payment Settlement), which introduces direct payments in a fast, secure and cheap way. In our country, the direct payment service is offered by most banks, and you can send money within Europe in less than 10 seconds. On a pilot basis, the ECB is considering the possibility of implementing such a direct money transfer scheme across Europe.

In particular, the IRIS interbank service was developed in Greece for direct money transfers using the TIPS infrastructure, but for transfers between Greek banks. Its usefulness mainly serves to transfer money from bank to bank without even using an IBAN, since you can enter the phone number of the person you want to send money to through your mobile phone contacts, i.e. without even dialing his phone number. It is just as easy to use it for payments through a QR code that allows you to pay for services, for example. a technician by simply scanning the QR code of their business account, pay for a taxi, or even have a soft drink at a kiosk by scanning a professional’s QR code.

Interest of multinational groups in Greece

The predominance of the card in electronic payments also explains the interest of transnational groups that have acquired their card clearing sector (acquiring) from four systemically important banks. Euronet acquired 100% of the relevant sector of Piraeus Bank, Worldline – 80% of the clearing sector of Eurobank, Nexi – 90% of Alpha Bank and Evo Payments – 51% of the relevant sector of the National Bank.

Together with the sale of the acquiring sector, which will deprive Greek banks of a significant part of the income from card commissions in the coming years, our country has renounced the past and the possibility of having its own national card system. Most developed European countries have national transaction clearing systems that have managed to ensure that card transaction clearing is not monopolized by two global payment schemes, Visa and MasterCard, headquartered across the Atlantic.
Characteristically, Germany, with 27.3 billion electronic transactions in 2021, of which 8.2 billion are card transactions, conducts through its national system called RPS 6.7 billion, of which 2.5 billion are card transactions of its national scheme ( girocard).
France, with 27 billion electronic transactions in 2021, of which 16 billion are card transactions, conducts 9.9 billion card transactions through its national system called STET. Belgium, with 5.3 billion transactions, of which 2.7 billion are card transactions, has 1.6 billion transactions through its national system called CEC, of ​​which 564 million are card transactions.
The importance that European countries attach to national payment systems to control their transactions is not a local phenomenon and is also reflected in the intention of the ECB to proceed with the creation of the European Payments Initiative Scheme, that is, a pan-European payment system, so that it has control. payments in Europe, in response to the omnipotence of Visa and MasterCard. The idea, last attempted two years ago, was abandoned earlier this year, with some linking this development to the development of the geopolitical game.