Fin. Min. Kostis Hatzidakis Promotes IRIS on Social Media

The Minister of National Economy and Finance, Kostis Hatzidakis, posted on his Facebook account on Thursday regarding the usefulness of IRIS system, urging citizens to register to the service.

In his post the minister explains the advantages citizens have by choosing to use IRIS as transactions involve no banking fees and are carried out via mobile phone. It ensures direct payments within a few seconds, from the user’s mobile phone, by only providing the recipient’s mobile or tax identification number. The transaction limit is 500 euros per day.

Hatzidakis continues by providing data regarding the expansion of the IRIS payment system. More specifically by the end of 2023, 2.2 million citizens had activated the IRIS service, meaning it quadrupled compared to 2020. Furthermore, the system is particularly popular with young people aged 18-34 amounting to 70% of the total users. He emphasizes the registration increase amongst freelancers reaching 155 thousand along with 3.5 thousand merchants/eshops. Finally, Hatzidakis notes a significant increase in recorded transactions with professionals having gone up by 300% compared to 2022.

The minister concludes that the government acknowledged the advantages of IRIS, with the law it passed regarding loans and the banking system, obliging freelancers to link their professional account to the IRIS service by January 31, 2024, and accepting direct payments from anyone who requests it. The same obligation was imposed on merchants who are already required to have POS. He also supports that this initiative will contribute to the fight against tax evasion.