In 2025, transactions with the IRIS interbank direct payments system will start to “fly”, the bank managers estimate. At the same time, card paymentsis accused very high commissions For traders, they seem to have started to “swamp” after their explosive growth in the post-pandemic period.
IRIS, charged very low commissions tto us traders but has been limited €500 daily transaction limitOn the consumer side, it has been gaining quite fast shares in transactions, albeit from a very low starting base. Recent data from DIAS, which is responsible for managing IRIS on behalf of banks, showed that: a record was set in July transactions, with 5.3 million transactions, worth 610 million euros, increased by 148%. Compared to July 2021, transactions have tripled.
In IRIS P2B, i.e. transactions between consumers and businesses, the increase was 1170% compared to July, more than 100 thousand new users were registered in IRIS P2P and the number of users who made transactions in this category increased by almost 20 thousand.
The cards “hit the ceiling”.
IRIS has not yet reached the critical mass of transactions to be considered a direct competitor to card payments, as The value of the transaction in July was approximately 600 million., when more than 5 billion euros are transacted through cards every month. However, ECB data shows that card transactions in Greece are starting to show signs of fatigue after their explosive growth since the pandemic.
Specifically, it seems cost of card transactionsIt increased from 26.2 billion in 2019 to 64.34 billion in 2022. that is, by 146%. But it was also the largest ever, as the value of card transactions in 2023 fell slightly to 63.6 billion strong anxiety with high fees of POS, ending up in banks, clearinghouses and, above all, multinationals, Visa and Mastercard.
For IRIS looks like it will be a station next year in its development and penetration into daily transactions, although the payment limit of 500 euros per day is considered too low and restrictive for the spread of IRIS.
The government implements it mandatory interface Well ahead of the deadlines set by the European Union for all IRIS businesses, and it is expected that from the second quarter of 2025, IRIS will now be available for all transactions, including point-of-sale payments.
Expansion
Let’s remind that the Ministry of National Economy and Finance gave extension to September 2 294,510 to freelancers who did not log into IRIS to do so. The next milestone will be March 31, 2025, when all businesses must be connected to IRIS.
As highlighted by Kostis Hatzidakis, “before the publication of the relevant European Regulation 2024/886, Greece fulfilled the obligations arising from it in connection with direct payments of “Person-to-Person” (between individuals) and “Person-to-Business” (between consumers and businesses). The regulation envisages a general extension of the possibility of direct payments until 2025.
“The next step for us is about expansion of direct payments across the spectrum of transactions, both e-commerce and physical (store). That is, now in all businesses. This is the next big challenge. And in this context, the government and the ministry will make every effort so that all parties involved (banks, direct payment system DIAS and AADE) coordinate and make the necessary technical adjustments to ensure that there is a direct possibility. payments and transactions to all types of businesses,” the minister emphasized.
Bank executives say connecting all businesses to IRIS by the end of March 2025 is an ambitious goal, but it is expected to arrive, albeit with a slight delay. Banks will then follow the evolution of P2B trade transactions very closely and possibly consider increasing the daily limit above EUR 500 in the next phase so that IRIS can also support the payment of higher value purchases
