European Payment Cards Yearbook

Greece - Summary

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Market Overview
Payment Organizations	DIAS, Hellenic Bankers Association

Market Structure	Cash continues to dominate retail payments, but the last five years have seen expansion in payment card use. Between 2000 and 2009, the number of payment cards increased from 6.6 million to 15.2 million. Numbers of debit and credit cards have risen in roughly the same proportions, but credit cards are used far more than debit cards for POS payments. NBG, the largest Greek bank, was historically the main MasterCard issuer. Alpha, the largest private bank, was historically the main VISA issuer.

Major Issuers	National Bank of Greece, Eurobank EFG, Alpha Bank, Emporiki Bank and Piraeus Bank

Major Acquirers	Alpha Bank, Emporiki Bank, National Bank of Greece, Eurobank EFG, Piraeus Bank

Consumer Finance	Having risen strongly ahead of the financial crisis, consumer credit, including credit card borrowing, declined since 2009.

Key Statistics 2010
Population	11.305 million
Cards	Debit: 9.0 million Delayed debit: 75,576 Credit: 5.1 million Total: 14.2 million