Foreign Investors Put More Than 1 Billion Euros into Greek Payment Industry

Economy

Foreign Investors Put More Than 1 Billion Euros into Greek Payment Industry

July 18, 2024

Photo: Nexi Group

ATHENS – Cash is still king and the preferred method for most people to make payments – they cite it’s anonymous compared to using debit and card cards and phones – but interest is growing in payment systems in Greece.

Foreign investors have invested more than 1 billion euros in the Greek payments industry over the last two years, Nikos Papadoglou, Deputy CEO of Nexi Greece told the business newspaper Naftemporiki about the trend.

https://www.naftemporiki.gr/english/1717187/nexi-investments-over-1-billion-euros-in-the-greek-payment-industry/

He said that in 2024 the industry is growing at a double digit rate with a 2022 European Central Bank survey finding the share of electronic payments in Greece’s consumer transactions was 19 percent compared to 7 percent in 2019.

Electronic payments are increasingly replacing cash, with the number of digital wallet users globally expected to exceed 1.3 billion, while the number of tap n pay transactions – via mobile or wearables – is increasing markedly, the paper said.

Nexi Greece is part of the Nexi Group, the European PayTech company that operates in 25 countries and clears 65 percent of European transactions, dominating the market that’s incrementally creeping up on taking over from cash.

E-payments are about 16 billion euros ($17.5 billion) in Greece, 40 percent of that in the tourism industry, which accounts for up to 20 percent of the annual Gross Domestic Product and in 2023 passed 20 billion euros ($21.88 billion,) a record.

In 2023, the annual value of card transactions in the Greece cards and payments market was $76.9 billion. The market value will grow at a Compound Annual Growth Rate (CAGR) of more than 7 percent during 2023-2027, said Global Data.

https://www.globaldata.com/store/report/greece-cards-and-payments-market-analysis/

The site said that while cash is still preferred in Greece that contactless payments are gaining in use, with Mastercard dominant. But the industry is changing rapidly, with more forms of electronic payments evolving, gradually taking over for cash.

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