The Hellenic Bank Association (HBA) participates for a seventh consecutive year with relevant activities in the "European Money Week" of the European Banking Federation. 

Following the HBA announcement dated 21st December 2020, its member banks, being consistent with their commitment for continuous assistance in limiting the impact of Covid-19 on public health and trading practice, will preserve until Wednesday 30th June 2021 the contactless payment limit up to 50 euros without the use of PIN. 

As of January 2021, the "strong customer authentication" was launched at a pan-European and national level, in accordance with Directive (EU) 2015/2366 "on payment services in the internal market" (PSD 2) and Law 4537/2018 (Government Gazette A' 84). This is a necessary procedure when a consumer carries out payment transactions by card in an e-commerce environment.

The requirements for strong customer authentication constitute an obligation for all payment service providers (e.g. banks, payment institutions, electronic money institutions, etc.), and were set in order to achieve maximum security of customers during transactions effected with the use of payment cards (debit, credit and prepaid).

With the allocation of funds of more than €20 billion, the adoption of measures to support households amounting to €45 billion as well as the financial support for development projects and state infrastructure, Greek banks have made a decisive contribution in 2020 and continue to contribute to the strengthening of the Greek economy

Following the HBA announcement dated 22nd September 2020, its member banks, being consistent with their commitment for continuous assistance in limiting the impact of COVID-19 on public health and trading practice, will preserve until Wednesday 31st March 2021 the contactless payment limit up to 50 euros without the use of PIN.