IRIS users can now send free payments to four European countries
Users of Greece’s IRIS payment system can now make instant peer-to-peer (P2P) payments to recipients in Italy, Spain, Portugal and Andorra using only a mobile phone number, without the need for an IBAN.
The cross-border transfers are free of charge and were announced on Tuesday at the Payments 360 conference organized by DIAS Interbanking Systems.
The expansion follows IRIS’s integration into the European Payments Alliance (EuroPA), a pan-European initiative linking national instant payment platforms. The move allows Greek users to send money to up to 57.3 million people across the four countries.
Initially, the cross-border service will be available through the mobile banking applications of Eurobank, Piraeus Bank and Viva.com. The remaining Greek banks are expected to join by the end of the year.
Once further links with other European payment initiatives are completed later this year, the service is expected to expand to 18 countries, enabling direct mobile-to-mobile payments for up to 176 million people across Europe.
Kathimerini
