Banks step up commitment to financing growth

The Hellenic Banking Association (HBA) has planned a series of meetings, on the domestic and international level, while also co-sponsoring events with the Hellenic Federation of Enterprises (SEV) and Greece Tourism Confederation (SETE) with guest-speakers of high international acclaim, influence and experience, aimed at upgrading the investment and economic outlook of the country and presenting the preconditions for turning Greece into an attractive investment destination.

Following the decision of the Notary Association of Athens-Piraeus-Aegean & Dodecanese to abstain from auction procedures until the 31st of December 2017, all members of the nine notary associations in the country are abstaining from the process, whether performed with physical or electronic means. As a result, it is no longer possible to conduct any judicial auction as long as this decision is in force, since the legal framework provides that notaries have the exclusive legal competence to perform auctions.

The pan-European e-authorisation solution has been growing at a fast pace in the Greek market since the beginning of the year, registering a 55% increase of transaction values per month on average

Athens and Paris, 25 September 2017 – Today, the Hellenic Bank Association (HBA) and PRETA S.A.S. announced that goods and services amounted EUR 15 million have been paid through MyBank solution in Greece since the beginning of the year. This steep increase in the MyBank transaction values confirms the notable market penetration that this pan-European e-authorisation solution for the initiation of secure online payments has achieved among Greek consumers and businesses within a short period of time.

The service has been widely deployed across Greece since early 2017 and is currently offered by four member banks of the Hellenic Bank Association: Piraeus Bank, National Bank of Greece, Alpha Bank and Eurobank Ergasias. From January 2017 to August 2017, MyBank has registered a remarkable overall increase in terms of transaction values and a growing adoption rate among businesses operating in Greece. With a transaction authorisation rate of 80%, the average value of each payment made via MyBank is EUR 220, while the payment with the highest value was for over EUR 11,000.

BRUSSELS, 16 May 2017 – The European Banking Federation has asked the European Commission not to dismiss a key recommendation by the European Banking Authority (EBA) on future electronic payments in the European Union. The EBF fears that the privacy of client data, cybersecurity and innovation are put at risk if the Commission does not fully endorse the EBA standards.

PSD2 introduces a general security upgrade for third-party access to a client’s data, bringing an end to practices known as ‘screen-scraping’. Such services, seen as a first-generation direct access technology, let third parties access bank accounts on a client’s behalf by impersonating while using their access credentials. PSD2 calls for the creation of a technology-neutral level-playing field for banks and fintechs, new and old.