The aim to intensify the dynamics of the technological solutions and payment services which DIAS SA develops and makes available to the domestic market stressed Stavroula Kampouridou, CEO of DIAS SA, during her participation in the panel discussion entitled: “Payments are changing and in Greece, the view of the old and new “players””, in the context of the 10th Digital Banking Forum. Ms Kampouridou addressed an open “invitation” to acquirers, companies that process card payments on behalf of merchants, urging them to connect to DIAS Payment System in cooperation with DIAS’s member banks, in order to offer additional electronic payment methods to the market.  

The CEO of DIAS SA expressed the Company’s interest in the further empowerment of Account-to-Account (A2A) payments in retail trade, which represent 18% of the value of e-commerce transactions in Europe. However, in Greece, still in its infancy, this percentage is less than 1%. Such a gap between Greece and Europe may be considered as an opportunity for further development in the near future. Moreover, Ms Kampouridou invited acquirers to join forces with DIAS SA, by connecting to its Payment System, in cooperation with banks, in order to offer to their customers (merchants)  additional payment methods, through the integration of interbank solutions. "The moment is right to provide Greece with an A2A solution as a commonly accepted alternative means of payment for merchants. The ultimate goal is to limit the use of cash at physical points of sales, which will result into significant benefits, such as further strengthening of tax revenues, cost of payments rationalization , security and innovation strengthening, etc. DIAS SA is a hub enabling payment connection within the financial system, offers a national - range solution, expresses its willingness to cooperate and wishes that companies which process card payments on behalf of merchants, will show similar interest. This will lead to the benefit of all involved parties”.

Strong figures for DIAS SA during the last 3 years

Moreover, Stavroula Kampouridou mentioned that over the last two years the landscape of payments in Greece has completely changed, with the entry of international PayTech companies, the emergence of domestic companies, developing a variety of in-house solutions, and the significant investment interest deriving from abroad with corresponding partnerships. In this landscape, DIAS SA achieved particularly impressive results, especially concerning the IRIS Person to Person (P2P) service as it managed to multiply by 30 times the number of transactions during the time period January-May 2020-2023 (from 200,000 in 2020 to approximately 6 million transactions this year). Moreover, IRIS P2P users increased from 700,000 in 2021 to 1.7 million today, with the number of new registered users to now steadily reach 60,000 users on a monthly basis and with the aim of exceeding 2 million users by the end of 2023. Overall DIAS SA's figures increase with double-digit growth rates, for a 3rd consecutive year.

“These results are not a product of pure luck. They are based on DIAS’s efforts to strengthen its extroversion, to meticulously record, analyze and implement  international and European payment market trends, and to pave powerful relationships, flourishing cooperation and deep trust with the stakeholders of the financial sector”, Stavroula Kampouridou stated.