Expansion of IRIS transactions

The Ministry Finance will extend the option of consumers to pay at the POS of all businesses through IRIS from the first quarter of 2025, expanding the possibilities of direct payments as the safest, cheapest and fastest way to conduct transactions.

The instant payment system will be linked to the cash registers so that when someone pays through IRIS a receipt is issued at the same time, adding another tool for combating tax evasion.

As part of the effort to expand direct payments, the ministry has asked the banks to distinguish the amount that an individual can send money through IRIS (person-to-person) from the amount that a freelancer can pay (person-to-business), thereby raising the daily limit for the two products to 1,000 euros per day, from €500 today.

The possibility of paying with IRIS still concerns freelancers and the self-employed professionals, and, according to DIAS data, 551,000 professionals offer this option to their clients.

For the extension of the direct payment system, the product should be supported by the POS at the physical point – i.e. in the stores – producing a dynamic QR (these are QRs that are programmed to change). For the implementation of this policy, issues related to the option of a refund in the event of a product return, as well as issues related to dealing with fraud or contesting the transaction, should be addressed at the same time.

The DIAS company that operates IRIS has already commissioned PwC to carry out a gap analysis for the three IRIS products (person-to-person, person-to-business and e-commerce) in order to improve the functionality of the products and address issues related to fraud.

At the moment, however, according to data from the Bank of Greece, “direct debits are the most secure means of payment,” given that, as noted in the latest Financial Stability Report, “in 2023, no incidents of fraud were reported.” This picture is also linked to the low limit of transactions carried out by IRIS users (€500 per day).