Over the past two years, the number electronic transactionshaving improved the rating of our country in relation to other 26 countries of the European Union by three positions, namely to 22 from 25, which it occupied in 2019. These are transactions through debit, credit or prepaid cards, credit transfersthat is, transfers from account to account, direct debitsuch as standing orders, money orders, and checks.

According to her ECB, the number of electronic transactions reached 2.146 billion at the end of 2021, recording an increase of 379 million compared to 2020 and 789 million compared to 2019, a year before the start of the health crisis that triggered the launch of electronic payments. . This figure represents 201 transactions per inhabitant (+36 transactions compared to 2020 and +74 transactions compared to 2019) versus 333 transactions per inhabitant in the Eurozone.

The number of transactions increased by 789 million, reaching 2.146 billion at the end of 2021.

Luxembourg consistently ranks 1st in online payments per capita with 7,576 transactions, while Lithuania’s impressive rise to 2nd place from 11th in 2020 and 15th in 2019. 1 country of licensed e-institutions of money.

The largest growth among various types of electronic payments (cards, credit transfers, direct debit, money transfers show plastic money in our country (growth by 33.4%), with debit cards being the first reason. This trend further improved our country’s ranking compared to other European economies, ranking 17th in ECB 2021 data from 25th two years ago, leaving behind countries such as Europe’s largest economy, Germany, which remains at the bottom in 24th place. in terms of card usage per capita. The number of card transactions has nearly doubled as it has grown from 792 million to 1.5 billion and is the main means of electronic payment for Greeks, unlike other markets such as Germany, as well as Italy, which ranks 24th in terms of the number of cards. transactions. Greece also ranks high in the number of card transactions per inhabitant, which, based on the same data, was 140, while the average for the Eurozone is 164, and for the EU – 164. 165. Germans carry out 99 card transactions per inhabitant, Italians 88 , Spaniards 161 and French 235, while for Lithuanians the counter is divided into 441 transactions per inhabitant, which includes transactions with cards issued abroad.

The “lag” shown, for example, in the two main markets of the European Union does not mean that Germans or Italians do not choose electronic payments in their transactions. This means that they prefer other methods, such as money transfers through accounts or even more so standing payments, which are the main transaction method for Germans, with a corresponding percentage of 43.1% of total electronic payments, while the corresponding percentage for Italians it is 11.5%, for Spaniards 18% and for the French 18.5%. However, this is not the case for Greeks, who mostly opt for debit or credit cards in percentages approaching 70% in terms of the number of transactions. Money transfers account for only 22.4% with a downward trend compared to previous years, while the participation of direct debits in electronic transactions of Greeks is extremely small, amounting to only 1.2%.

Greeks prefer cards

Greeks’ different approach to electronic payments is reflected not only in comparison with Germans, who prefer standing payments as more active to avoid missing a payment, but also in comparison with the Eurozone average, where the use of cards in transactions rose in 2021 to 49% of total electronic payments compared to 69.5% in Greece.

Direct debit accounts for 20% of transactions in the European Union (compared to 1.2% in Greece), while credit transfers account for an average of 22% of electronic payments in the euro area, about the same as in Greece. In the Eurozone, the number of direct debit transactions per inhabitant was 67.6 transactions, in the European Union – 53.8, in Germany – 141.3, and in Greece – only 2.4 transactions per inhabitant.

By the amount of transactions, the most basic category of electronic payments in our country are credit transfers, which amounted to 739.4 billion euros in 2021 (78% of the total value).

This is followed by checks at 69.4 billion euros (7.3%), direct debits at 4.3 billion euros (0.5%), cards at 44.8 billion euros (4.7%), electronic money at 4. €2 billion (0.4%) and other payment services (eg money transfers). ) from 86.1 billion euros (9.1%).