Market Trends of Greece POS Terminals Industry
Contactless Payments are Anticipated to Hold a Major Share in the Forecast Period
- Greece's retail payments sector has evolved over the past five years from 2021, to become more interconnected. Electronic payment instruments and services have become more prevalent, whereas other conventional payment methods like checks have experienced considerable declines.
- Greece has made a significant effort over the past five years to encourage the use of electronic payment instruments and services. This effort has been supported by all relevant parties, including the public and private sectors, the government, the National Central Bank, banks, trade, and consumer associations, and the state.
- A few factors that encourage cashless transactions in Greece include the June 2015 imposition of restrictions on capital transfers and cash withdrawals, which have been repealed as of 1 September 2019. Other factors include the state's ongoing goal to increase tax revenues by reducing tax evasion, as well as the process of encouraging consumers to use e-payment methods more frequently than traditional ones.
- As per PPRO, Card-based payments which come under contactless based payments holds the major share of payment type accounted for 49% of total share which is followed by cash-based payments accounted for a share of 24%.
- Moreover, in Card-based payments, the credit card split in e-commerce market is recorded as Mastercard accounted for 52% of total share, 47% of total share for Visa and the remaining for others.
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Retail Segment to Experience Significant Growth
- The Greece retail market is one of the most reliant sectors on POS terminals. Most of the prominent retail players in Greece have adopted adequate POS terminals acknowledging the importance of POS terminal benefits. Also, the market is witnessing mergers and acquisitions, leading to the growth in POS terminals.
- For instance, in March 2022, Piraeus Bank Merchant Acquiring (PBMA), a division of the Greek bank Piraeus Bank, was fully acquired by Euronet Worldwide, Inc., a prominent provider of financial technology solutions and payments. About 205,000 POS terminals at 170,000 businesses throughout Greece, as well as the Bank's online merchant acquiring a business, were acquired by Euronet as part of the completed purchase of PBMA's acquiring services and assets. The in-store acquiring sector accounts for 20% of the Greek market, and PBMA's online merchant acquiring processes 40% of all online and digital transactions.
- The Greek market will benefit from Euronet's expansion of the REN payments platform's capabilities by receiving a range of improved cash-based and digital payment solutions, including QR codes and other tokenized payment methods in digital wallets and payment apps, that can be offered both directly to customers and to third-party companies like banks, fintechs, and retailers.
- Futher, HSBC has announced plans to sell its branch business in Greece to regional rival Pancreta Bank for an unknown transaction in March 2022. The agreement, which is a component of the bank's multi-year restructuring strategy, was signed by HSBC Continental Europe, an indirect subsidiary of HSBC.
- Also, HSBC has served approximately 90,000 retail customers and about 500 corporate clients in the nation since it began operations there in 1981 through its 15 locations,. According to Pancreta Bank, the purchase is anticipated to improve its capital adequacy ratio and HSBC's branch network complements its activities in Athens.
- Moreover, the retail segment in the Greece is experiencing a postive trend in POS terminal transactions. According to the European Central Bank data, the POS terminal transactions in retail sector of Greece market, the transactions rise by 18.34% in 2021, compared to the previous year 2020, which recorded 13.383 million transactions in retail sector.
