Leading figures from banking and business attended the Athens Mastercard Innovation Forum 2026, which focused on growth prospects for the Greek market.
In his opening address, Mastercard country manager for Greece, Cyprus and Malta Panagiotis Polydoros outlined new growth prospects for the Greek payments market, noting that corporate payments still offer untapped potential that could reach €15 billion.
He also stressed the importance of further expanding digital payments in transactions with the public sector, and highlighted the younger generation’s need for greater financial education and more personalised banking services.
Presenting Mastercard’s strategic priorities for 2027, he announced that its rewards programme “Mastercard Day” would be extended to petrol stations from November 2026, following its rollout in supermarkets, to help consumers cope with pressure from the rising cost of living.
In the same vein, he referred to the rollout of the cashback at point of sale service, which will allow customers to withdraw cash at the point of payment via POS terminals, expanding consumer choice and creating additional opportunities for businesses and payment providers.
The company’s priorities also include expanding its partnership ecosystem, with a focus on independent software vendors (ISVs), for which a dedicated mapping exercise is planned during 2027.
The company also aims to accelerate the Click to Pay service, simplifying online transactions and making them more secure at a time when artificial intelligence is playing an increasingly active role in e-commerce.
What the four systemic banks are planning for the future of banking
The changes being driven by artificial intelligence, the rise of neobanks and rising customer expectations were at the centre of a discussion featuring senior executives from the four systemic banks: Alpha Bank, Eurobank, National Bank of Greece and Piraeus Bank.
The need to keep the human factor at the heart of digital transformation was stressed by Alpha Bank’s chief retail client strategies officer Panagiotis Georgiopoulos.
He said technological progress must be accompanied by a deeper understanding of customers’ needs, simpler and more personalised services, and efforts to strengthen trust, which remains fundamental to the relationship between a bank and its customers.
Eurobank deputy CEO and head of retail & digital banking Iakovos Giannaklis highlighted the pivotal role of neobanks, saying their entry into the market had raised the bar for the entire banking sector.
Customers are now looking for simpler, faster and more user-friendly services, prompting traditional banks to redesign their digital experience. He said artificial intelligence would be the next major change for the sector, bringing significant benefits in reducing bureaucracy and increasing productivity.
At National Bank of Greece, the digital assistant “Sofia” already fully handles one in three customer requests, while artificial intelligence systems detect eight out of every 10 attempted frauds and also reduce false alerts, said the bank’s general manager of retail banking Christina Theofilidi.
She previewed the next step for “Sofia”, which will be able to pay bills on customers’ behalf, marking a shift from basic digital assistance to the execution of transactions through AI.
For Piraeus Bank, executive general manager and head of retail banking & distribution networks Vassilis Koutentakis described the acquisition of Ethniki Insurance as a strategic move to strengthen its bancassurance business, clarifying that the insurance company would retain its name and logo.
On the future of payments, he said Piraeus was participating on a pilot basis in European initiatives for the digital euro, and predicted that the market was moving towards a model in which different payment infrastructures and methods coexist (multirail payments).