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Cyprus 2026

Market Overview
Payment Organisation JCC Payment Systems; JCC is owned by five major banks.
Domestic Payment Brands No domestic payment brands.
Market Structure JCC is the central body in the Cypriot card business market, managing the domestic POS/ATM networks and most acquirer transactions.

The credit card sector has been relatively mature for some years, but debit card use is now higher than credit card use.

POS payments have outnumbered ATM withdrawals by value and by number.

Economic Adjustment Programme (€10 billion) agreed between the Cypriot authorities and the ‘Troika’; Cypriot bank sector restructured in 2012-13 following the euro crisis.

Emerging Open Banking payment ecosystem.
Notable Market Trends Contactless cards, MPOS terminals, QR-codes, the launch of Apple Pay and bank mobile apps.

In 2023, continued recovery from the COVID-19 pandemic led to a 52% rise in POS payments and a 31% rise in remote payments. This normalised in 2024 with POS and remote payments growing by 2% and 9% respectively.
Major Card Issuers Bank of Cyprus, Hellenic Bank, AstroBank, and two Greek banks in Cyprus.
Major Card Acquirers JCC, others: Bank of Cyprus, and AstroBank.
Major Card Processors JCC Payment Systems.
Key Statistics 2024
Population 973,120, with 2.09 cards per capita
Cards Debit: 1.69 million

Delayed Debit: 21,803

Credit: 311,963

Prepaid: 243,557

Total: 2.40 million
Card Payments Debit: 200.85 million; value €11.72 billion

Delayed Debit: 2.0 million; value €0.34 billion

Credit: 26.80 million; value €2.32 billion

Total: 230.53 million; value €14.38 billion
POS Terminals 151,167
POS Payments All cards: 472.31 million; value €8.37 billion
ATMs 398
ATM Withdrawals All cards: 15.12 million; value €5.39 billion
Digital A2A Payments Credit Transfers: 48.4 million, value: €162.5 billion
Online Banking E-payments: 30.7 million, value: €139.5 billion
Note: Italic forecast figures for 2025F are estimated in the payment market context based on 2024 figures.

Source: ECB, Central Bank of Cyprus (CBC).

Introduction – Payments in Cyprus

Cyprus is a presidential republic, which joined the European Union in 2004 and adopted the euro in 2008.

Payment and banking services in Cyprus are concentrated within a handful of banks. Although it is small in size, the Cypriot banking sector is rapidly expanding the roll-out of digital services through apps and services like Apple Pay, while government efforts are focused on reducing cheque usage and expanding electronic identity initiatives. With these services becoming more intertwined, digitalisation across banking and public services will accelerate. More recently, the rollout of contactless payments has been strong in Cyprus and in June 2025, Apple launched the ‘Tap to Pay on iPhone’ feature in Cyprus, enabling merchants of any size to accept payments via iPhone (Apple Pay, contactless card, digital wallet) without dedicated POS hardware.

The adoption of the revised Payment Services Directive, PSD2, and disruptive technologies have set the stage for digital payments for the digital economy in Cyprus. They have accelerated digital payment transformation and mobile payment services, as well as cardless IBAN-based payments directly from bank accounts.

In the last decade, Cypriot consumers have embraced mobile devices such as tablets, smartphones and Internet of Things (IoT). This change significantly impacts their shopping experience. Consumers have become increasingly connected and they have started to purchase anywhere, at any time, from any device.

In addition, new consumer demands are a game changer. Cypriot consumers like digital banking apps with access to all their accounts at different banks in one single app, with the option to make payments directly from their bank account of choice. Additionally, they appreciate more banking services and payment services added to their mobile banking app. Consumer adoption of digital payments in Cyprus is driven by minimal cost, secure payments and a high level of user convenience.

Driven by the development of social media and mobile devices, the emergence of permanently connected consumers has impacted their interactions with brands but also their expectations of how to shop using the increasing number of touch points between consumers and merchants, e.g.:

The ongoing rollout of a mature online and mobile communication infrastructure is an enabler for digital card payment transformation and for Open Banking payments in Cyprus.

In a few years from now, mobile banking apps and mobile payment apps are expected to combine account management, digital payment services, personal finance management and value-added digital services from location finders to digital vouchers.

Cash payments, card payments and cardless payments directly from bank accounts (A2A payments) remain all relevant for Cypriot merchants and are heavily used by Cypriot consumers.

This country profile provides an introduction into two competing payment ecosystems in Cyprus:

Legal Framework for Payment Services

The legal framework for European payment services is a joint project undertaken by the European Commission as the regulator, the European Central Bank (ECB) as the Euro System, and the European Payments Council (EPC) with the objective of standardising payments in Europe and to remove existing barriers, promote cross-border competition between payment services, strengthen the European internal market and drive the digital payment transformation.

Based on its vision, the EU Commission has therefore created a unique legal framework for cashless B2C and B2B payments that supersedes pre-existing national legislation and is binding for financial service providers and payment service providers throughout the EU.

Cyprus has largely transposed this legal framework into their national payment legislation.

Historically, there has been a de facto national regulation of all Cypriot payment schemes with high technical barriers to ensure and defend payment security.

With the implementation of the payment services directive, all payment services in Cypriot are based on the unique legal framework for payment services of the European Commission effective in the European Economic Area (EEA).

In addition, the respective rules and regulations of the domestic card scheme and the international card schemes continue to be applied by the card payment service providers (e.g. EMV, PCI, RTS SCA, and SEPA Cards Framework), respectively.

Legal Framework relevant for Payment Services in Cyprus

The revised Payment Services Directive, PSD2, had established a legal and regulatory framework for payment services providers, enforcing several protections for their clients such as safeguarding of funds; and required them to execute processes in accordance with banking regulations, such as KYC and AML. It has already resulted in significant progress regarding the integration of the European retail payments markets.

Following the alignment with the EEA region, the legal framework for payment services in Cyprus includes the directives and regulations of the European Commission (EC), the ECB, and/or the national central bank (NCB) of the individual country.

All card payment service providers and all cardless payment service providers of the Open Banking payment ecosystem must apply for the European legal framework including:

Characteristics of the PSD2 Outlook: PSD3 and PSR

The adoption of PSD2 has formalised the relationship between banks and trusted payment providers (TPPs) by establishing the Open Banking Mandate providing open access to customer account data and the payments infrastructure. This is expected to stimulate the FinTech market to develop new integrated services models for both consumer and business customers.

This regulation is a reaction to the growing demand from customers as mobile and internet applications have become widely adopted, driving expectations in how services should be delivered across all industries. Other market segments have adopted Open Banking APIs to respond to this demand and shown that innovative applications can grow business and change customer behaviour.

PSD2 has a significant impact on the European payments industry. According to the EC, the revised Payment Services Directive brings several new important elements and improvements to the EU payment market e.g.:

In 2022, the regulator started a PSD2 review process, which will end up in a revised PSD2 dubbed PSD3. While consultations are currently ongoing, the revisions are expected to address the achievements of the PSD2 and evaluate the need for a revised standard.

Proposed EC Revisions to the EU Payment Services Regulation – PSD3 and PSR 

In June 2023, the European Commission (EC) published its proposed revisions to EU payment services legislation, as well as a proposal on Open Finance/data access in the financial services sector beyond Open Banking/payment accounts in the form of a new Open Finance framework called “FIDA”.

Essentially, the EC is proposing that PSD2 would be split into two different instruments. These will ensure consumers can continue to make electronic payments and transactions safely and securely in the EU, domestically or cross-border, in euro and non-euro. Whilst safeguarding their rights, it also aims to provide greater choice of payment service providers on the market:

The objective of the regulation is to enhance harmonisation of the rules and enforcement across the various EU Member States. In addition, the EC proposed to merge the E-Money Directive (EMD2) with the proposed PSD3 and PSR texts, so as to have one coherent regime for both payment services and e-money services and thereby ensure a level-playing field between PIs and EMIs.

PSD3 also amends the Settlement Finality Directive (SFD) in order to allow non-bank PSPs (e.g. PIs and EMIs) to participate directly in SFD-designated payment systems. Fintechs will be given access to all EU payment systems, with appropriate safeguards, and giving them a right to have a bank account. That way, those non-bank PSPs would no longer need to rely on banks in order to execute payment transactions.

A system to check IBANs and a platform to enable payment service providers to share fraud-related information are two proposals around consumer protection, including an extension to all credit transfers of IBAN/name-matching verification services. These have been proposed by the Commission for instant payments in Euro. All consumers should benefit from them, for both regular and instant credit transfers.

The European Banking Authority (EBA) is given once again a number of mandates under PSD3 and the PSR to prepare draft regulatory technical standards (RTS) and draft implementing technical standards (ITS), ultimately to be adopted by the EC, as well as guidelines, and to continue maintaining the register.

In 2024, significant progress was made in updating PSD2. In April 2024, the European Parliament adopted the European Commission’s proposals for PSD3 and PSR at first reading. While the exact timelines for enforcement are not yet confirmed, it is anticipated that the finalised versions of PSD3 and PSR may become available by 2025.

In 2025, the EU made substantial progress toward finalising PSD3 and PSR, marking the next major phase in the evolution of Europe’s payment services framework. In June 2025, the Council of the EU reached agreement on compromise texts for both legislative instruments, subsequently endorsed by COREPER (the Committee of Permanent Representatives), enabling the start of trilogue negotiations with the European Parliament and the European Commission.

These negotiations aim to align positions on key issues, including liability for payment fraud, direct access of non-bank payment service providers to payment systems, and strengthened consumer protection. Final adoption and publication of the legislative package are expected by late 2025, after which the PSR will apply directly across all EU Member States, while PSD3 will require national transposition within approximately 12–18 months. This means the new framework could come into practical effect during 2026–2027.

The 2025 developments reaffirm the EU’s objective to harmonise payment regulation, enhance security and consumer rights, and create a more competitive and innovative payments landscape across the single market.

General Data Protection Regulation (GDPR) 

The General Data Protection Regulation (GDPR) is a legal framework that sets guidelines for the collection and processing of personal information from individuals who live in the European Union (EU). Since the Regulation applies regardless of where websites are based, it must be heeded by all sites that attract European visitors, even if they don’t specifically market goods or services to EU residents.

Adopted in April 2016, the Regulation came into full effect in May 2018, after a two-year transition period. The GDPR replaces the Data Protection Directive 95/46/EC and is designed to:

The GDPR mandates that EU visitors to all websites must be given a number of data disclosures. Sites must also take steps to facilitate such EU consumer rights as timely notification in the event of personal data being breached (breach notification). Among others, the GDPR mandates the user’s right to access their data and the right to be forgotten. In addition, the conditions for consent have been strengthened, and companies are no longer able to use long, illegible terms and conditions full of legalese. Also, it must be as easy to withdraw consent as it is to give it.

eIDAS Regulation and Digital ID Trends

The electronic Identification, Authentication and Trust Services regulation (eIDAS) is a set of EU standards and regulations for electronic identification and trust services for electronic transactions in the European Single Market. It was established in the EU Regulation as of 23 July 2014, relating to electronic identification, and repeals directive 1999/93/EC from December 1999. It entered into force on 17 September 2014 and applies from 1 July 2016 except for certain articles, listed under its article 52.

In June 2021, the European Commission proposed an update to eIDAS that will enable every European to have a set of digital identity credentials recognised anywhere in the EU. In May 2024, Regulation (EU) 2024/1183 entered into force, formally establishing the European Digital Identity (EUDI) Wallet under the revised eIDAS 2.0 framework. The regulation requires all EU Member States to provide at least one interoperable digital identity wallet within 24 months of the adoption of the implementing acts, placing the expected rollout across the EU by late 2026.

Throughout 2025, the European Commission has continued to issue implementing regulations defining the wallet’s technical architecture, certification procedures, and security requirements. The framework embeds privacy-by-design, data minimisation, and user consent principles, ensuring data remains under user control and stored locally on the user’s device.

Pilot projects launched between 2023 and 2025 have been finalising testing across Member States to validate interoperability, usability, and cross-border functionality. From 2026 onward, public and private entities that require strong electronic identification will be expected to recognise and accept the EUDI Wallet for secure authentication and digital transactions across the EU.

Many digital ID schemes operate based on super-secure passwords and/or mobile apps confirmed by a second factor, either passwords or one-time token or biometric factors such as fingerprints.

Digital ID in Europe has been proliferating rapidly in recent years. To date, both the nature of these schemes and their application have varied widely – for example, BankIDs in the Nordics being used to support instant payments and the delivery of harmonised government services.

eID platform initiative – In May 2017, a group of European companies including banks, vehicle manufacturers, and technology providers signed a “corresponding declaration of intent” to establish a joint, pan-industry platform that will let their customers use a so-called “master key” for registration and identification when accessing online services across a range of sectors including government, aviation and retail.

In Cyprus, the Electronic Identity (e-ID) is an official tool for the identification of citizen data and the conduct of electronic transactions characterised by high levels of security. In addition, the e-iD ensures the use of an authorised electronic signature for the signing of digital documents with security and with legal force.

The Association of Cyprus Banks (ACB), following the Government’s invitation, has signed a Memorandum of Understanding for the introduction of a national e-identity scheme in Cyprus. The national scheme includes the basic principles for the issuance of electronic identity cards, based on European Regulation No. 910/2014 – eIDAS Regulation. The national scheme includes a set of new regulations and Bills of the Civil Registry and the Migration Department, the Department of Electronic Communications and the Department of Information Services. The bills were passed by the House of Parliament in April 2021, leading the way towards the final implementation of the digital ID.

The national scheme consists of a secure way of access to the digital environment with a high level of security, recognised at European level and facilitates the signing of digital documents as well as the possibility for the development of new electronic services both in the public, banking and financial world. Since mid-2020, Cypriot citizens have been able to apply and use e-signature certificates in their day-to-day online transactions.

The certificates are being issued by JCC Payments Systems, the local qualified service provider, in cooperation with member banks of the Association.

Citizens are eligible to apply for an e-identity card, as long as they are 18 years old and have a biometric Republic of Cyprus ID card. The e-cards will include a bar code with the person’s e-signature and they will be used as identification for online government and other financial and banking services.

Biometric Authentication Services

As a form of digital identity, biometric factors have been gaining ground across Europe in recent years, especially since the EU mandated their use for national ID cards and passports from August 2021.

In the payments industry, European banks and other account servicing payment service providers (ASPSPs) have started to support new biometrics technology companies that will develop client identification and authentication systems. They will be dedicated to the research and development of software for the digital verification and authentication of personal identity, through facial, voice, image or document recognition, or fingerprint reading.

With the EU regulator’s decision to mandate Strong Customer Authentication (SCA) as part of the revised payment services directive, PSD2, biometric authentications look set to grow further in importance as part of the payments landscape.

Companies such as Sweden’s Fingerprints (for online payment ID) and the UK’s Fingopay (for physical payments) have pioneered their use in P2P and P2B transactions, while some national ID schemes such as BankID in the Nordics and nemID now include biometric factors alongside PIN in their log-in processes.

Fingerprints (Sweden): Continues to lead development of biometric sensors, especially for fingerprint-enabled payment cards and mobile devices in Europe, supporting both remote (online) payment ID and card-based transactions since 2025.​

Fingopay (UK): Specialises in vein recognition systems for physical payments, with deployments in retail, hospitality, and transport, pioneering biometric authentication for point-of-sale transactions and peer-to-peer (P2P) settings.​

National ID Schemes: Nordic BankID services (Sweden, Norway) and Denmark’s NemID (transitioning to MitID) now commonly offer biometric log-in options—such as face and fingerprint authentication—alongside traditional PIN/password, used for identification in financial, public, and private sector services.

Biometric Authentication in European Payments

Additional Trends and Initiatives for 2025

Mastercard Identity Check – Mastercard launched Identity Check in October 2016, pioneering biometric authentication for online card payments across much of Europe.​ 3D Secure (EMV 3DS) is the framework enabling these secure authentications, often using SMS codes, push approvals, or biometrics (fingerprint/face).​

Since 2024, Mastercard has expanded Identity Attribute Verification services, integrating them with new European Digital Identity Wallet pilot programs. This supports not only consumer-to-merchant payments but also richer identity checks (age, address), further reducing friction without compromising security.​

Today, 2-factor authentication for Mastercard payments may use one-time codes, fingerprint/face recognition in mobile apps, and sometimes dedicated hardware or behavioural biometrics, complying with PSD2’s Strong Customer Authentication (SCA) mandate.​

Mastercard Identity Check (EMV 3-D Secure) is supported in all European Economic Area (EEA) countries, the United Kingdom, and most other European markets, along with global acceptance in North America, APAC, and Latin America through Mastercard’s international network.​

For Europe specifically, this means Mastercard Identity Check is available in at least 30 countries (all EEA states plus the UK, Switzerland, and several others). The number continues to grow with compliance expansion and global merchant adoption.

Banking Sector

The Central Bank of Cyprus (CBC), established in 1963, is the national central bank of Cyprus and supervises Cypriot banking operations. The legal framework in which Cypriot financial institutions and companies operate is based on European Union directives and Cypriot banking laws.

The Cyprus economy entered a phase of recovery in the second half of 2010, following the recession that occurred in 2009 and early 2010. The deterioration of economic conditions in Cyprus and Greece together with the exacerbation of the sovereign debt crisis in the Euro area, especially in the second half of 2011, was the main issue in Cyprus in 2011 and the subsequent years.

Following a financial aid request from the Cypriot government on 25 June 2012, a comprehensive Economic Adjustment programme (€10 billion) was agreed between the Cypriot authorities and the European Commission, the European Central Bank and the International Monetary Fund (the Troika) on 2 April 2013.

As part of its EU-IMF bail-out, the Cypriot government imposed a 6.75% levy on all bank deposits over €100,000 in March 2013. In 2014 the recession lost momentum and economic growth returned in 2015 at 1.7% and in 2016 at 2.8% after three years of contraction. GDP grew by 3.9% in 2017 and 2018 and grew by 3.2% in 2019. Forecasts for 2020 were in the range of 2.8% GDP growth, but the economic impact of the COVID-19 pandemic led to a fall of 5.1% in 2020. The contraction of the economy in 2020 due to the pandemic was in magnitude and duration relatively less severe than initially expected, with the recovery in 2021 largely offsetting the decline in economic activity in 2020. In 2021, GDP rose by 5.5%, mainly derived from domestic demand and, to a lesser extent, from net exports. In 2022, despite the negative geopolitical developments, GDP growth stood at 5.1%, outperforming the EU average and boosted by household spending and recovery in the tourism sector. In 2023, GDP growth slowed to 2.5% reflecting a stabilisation from previous years’ base effects as well as moderate growth in tourism and tighter credit conditions. In 2024, the economy grew by 3.4% driven by strong domestic demand and exports, especially service exports.

Green transition actions and the adoption of digital technology are also of particular importance for the medium and long-term economic development in Cyprus. In particular, through the Recovery and Resilience Plan, a total of over €280 million will be made available for the digital transition, representing 23% of the total budget of the project in question.

Concerning domestic inflation, the Harmonised Index of Consumer Prices (HICP) registered an increase of 2.3% in 2021 compared with a decrease of 1.1% in 2020. In general, in 2021 the inflation developments in Cyprus, similar to the euro area, mainly reflected the significant rise in energy prices due to the surge in oil prices in international markets compared with the low oil prices in 2020. In 2022, inflation rose to 8.1% as a result of high energy and food prices and supply-side disruptions. By 2023, Cyprus experienced a decline in inflation rate to 3.5% due to stable energy prices, monetary policy measures, and base effects from the previous year’s high inflation. Inflation rate further eased to 1.8% in 2024 as the effect of supply-side shocks from energy and food prices diminished.

On 4 November 2014, the European Central Bank (ECB), via the Single Supervisory Mechanism (SSM), assumed the responsibility of supervising the financial stability of banks operating within the euro zone. However, while the ECB has final supervisory authority over all banks operating within the euro zone, it will only directly supervise those banks classified as ‘significant’ under the terms of the SSM (by July 2025, 114 significant banking groups have been recognised). All other ‘less significant’ banks continue to be supervised by the CBC.

Structure

The banking sector in Cyprus comprises of domestic banks, international banks with Cyprus-based subsidiaries or branches, and a cooperative bank. Beyond the traditional deposit and lending services (to households, corporations, SMEs), banks in Cyprus operate under the “universal banking model” as they offer a diverse range of products and services. Deposits from customers have traditionally been the main source of funding for banks.

Within the framework of the EU Banking Union, since November 2014 the CCIs and Cooperative Central Bank, together with the Bank of Cyprus, Hellenic Bank and RCB Bank, were among the European credit institutions that came under the direct supervision of the ECB, as part of the Single Supervisory Mechanism (SSM) provisions, whereas the subsidiaries of Greek banks are supervised by the SSM as their parent banks are systemic in their home country.

At end-2024, there were 17 authorised credit institutions in Cyprus, consisting of five local authorised credit institutions, three subsidiaries of foreign banks from EU member states, one subsidiary of a foreign bank from a non-EU member state, three branches of foreign banks from EU member states, four branches of banks from non-EU member states, plus one representative office. Due to the deterioration of the economic situation in Lebanon, Lebanese banks have closed their branches in Cyprus, following a decision by the Lebanon Central Bank.

1 - Banking Sector Statistics end-2024
20202021202220232024
Deposits (€m) 48,213 51,500 52,100 52,200 52,124
Loans (€m) 31,800 29,90025,90024,80026,122
Personnel na4,7634,7637,750
Branches 238 218218225
Branches per 100,000 capita 27 2424
Source: Association of Cyprus Banks.

Cypriot banks dominate the banking sector (see Table 2). The leading Cypriot banks are Bank of Cyprus, Hellenic Bank, Cyprus Central Bank (the Cooperative Central Bank that absorbed the country’s 18 cooperative credit institutions), Ancora Bank, and two specialised credit institutions – Cyprus Development Bank and Housing Finance Corporation.

The leading subsidiaries of foreign banks operating in Cyprus include Alpha Bank Cyprus (absorbed Emporiki Bank Cyprus), Société Générale Bank-Cyprus, National Bank of Greece (Cyprus), AstroBank, Eurobank Cyprus, RCB Bank (a subsidiary of VTB Bank) and USB Bank (a subsidiary of Lebanon’s BLC Bank).

Following the merger of Alpha Bank and Emporiki Bank in Greece in March 2015, Emporiki Bank (Cyprus) was absorbed by Alpha Bank (Cyprus). In March 2017, Piraeus Bank (Cyprus) was rebranded as AstroBank and acquired USB Bank in January 2019.

In November 2019, AstroBank increased its presence in the Cyprus market further with the planned acquisition of National Bank of Greece (Cyprus), however the deal was terminated in November 2020 as Astrobank had not fulfilled certain conditions. In 2020 AstroBank announced plans to acquire the banking business of Arab Jordan Investment Bank in Cyprus, but the deal was terminated in August 2020 due to pandemic-related delays.

Kibris Continental Bank is situated in the Turkish Republic of Northern Cyprus.

In March 2022, Hellenic Bank entered into an agreement to acquire a performing loan portfolio from RCB Bank, which was previously known as the Russian Commercial Bank (Cyprus).

Eurobank completed its acquisition of Hellenic Bank in May 2025 after a squeeze-out procedure. This followed earlier stages, including a takeover bid that concluded in April 2025. In August 2025, Eurobank announced the receipt of all required regulatory approvals for the merger of its wholly owned subsidiaries in Cyprus, i.e. Hellenic Bank and Eurobank Cyprus, marking the beginning of a new era for the banking sector in Cyprus.

2 - Main Banks in Cyprus 2024
OwnershipBranchesATMs
Bank of Cyprus (BoC) Investors: 90.09%, CPB: 4.82%, EBRD: 5.09%55136
Hellenic BankDemetra Investments (21.3%); Wargaming Group (6.8%), others: 71.9%52158
Alpha Bank (Cyprus) Alpha Bank Group (GR)1216
National Bank of Greece (Cyprus)NBG Group (GR)25
AstroBankInvestors: 90.0%, Piraeus Group (GR): 10.0%1515
Cyprus Development Bank (CDB)Institutional and individual investors (CY)20
Société Générale Bank CyprusSociété Générale Bank Libanon (RL)33
Eurobank CyprusEurobank EFG (GR)80
Ancoria BankSievert Larsson Group: 51.39%, Ancoria Insurance: 20%, others: 28.61%35
Total152338
Note: RCB Bank ended its banking services in October 2022.
Source: Association of Cyprus Banks (ACB): regular members bank data.

Restructuring – In 2011, Cyprus’s second largest bank, Laiki group’s Marfin Popular Bank, was renamed Cyprus Popular Bank (CPB); in mid-2012, it became 85% state-owned. Following the decision of the Eurogroup meeting held on 25 March 2013 (Troika), the Cypriot bank sector was restructured by decrees of the CBC (see below). As part of its EU-IMF bail-out, the Cypriot government imposed a 6.75% levy on all bank deposits over €100,000 in March 2013.

Within the framework of the EU Banking Union, since November 2014 the CCIs and Cooperative Central Bank, together with Bank of Cyprus, Hellenic Bank and RCB Bank, were among the European credit institutions that came under the direct supervision of the ECB, as part of the Single Supervisory Mechanism provisions.

Bank of Cyprus (BCY) was founded in 1899 and is the leading banking and financial services group in Cyprus, with an estimated 730,000 individual and SME customers as at end-2023. BCY provides a wide range of financial products and services which include retail and commercial banking, finance, factoring, investment banking, brokerage, fund management, private banking, and life and general insurance.

Following the decision of the Eurogroup meeting and the decrees issued by CBC in its capacity as the Resolution Authority, Bank of Cyprus acquired the insured deposits and the majority of the assets and loans of Cyprus Popular Bank (“Laiki”). The so-called bad bank deposits remained with the state-owned Cyprus Popular Bank.

In March 2013, BCY exited Greece and sold its branch network in Greece to Piraeus Bank (GR). In Romania, BCY transferred certain assets and liabilities including most customer deposits, certain loan agreements and related collateral, cash, and other liquid assets to the subsidiary of Laiki in Romania. In the UK, deposits of the UK branch of Laiki Bank were transferred to BCY’s UK subsidiary and advances to the parent company of the group. In January 2014 the Group reached an agreement to sell its business in the Ukraine to ABH Ukraine Limited, a member of the Alfa Group.

In 2022, BCY Group reduced its branch network by 20 to 60 branches and by 2023, BCY had 64 branches in Cyprus and, additionally, branches in Russia and the Channel Islands. Since the beginning of the year, there was further branch footprint rationalization as the Group reduced the number of branches by five to 55, a reduction of 8%. Also, BCY Group has 6 representative offices in Russia, Ukraine, Serbia, China and South Africa. During 2020 BCY Group continued its efforts for further deleveraging and disposal of non-essential assets and operations in Greece, Romania and Russia.

In February 2017, the Bank of Cyprus selected Dovetail, a payment solution provider, to equip the bank with payment hub functionality covering SWIFT, Target2, SEPA Credit Transfer (SCT), and Direct Debits (SDD) as part of the bank’ on-going digital transformation programme.

In July 2018, Bank of Cyprus sold its UK subsidiary for £103 million to private equity investor Cynergy Capital. On completion, Bank of Cyprus UK was rebranded and launched in December 2018 as Cynergy Bank.

In August 2022, BCY confirmed that it had received and unanimously rejected three unsolicited, conditional, non-binding proposals from investment firm Lone Star relating to a possible cash offer for the entire issued, and to be issued, the share capital of BCY. According to BCY, the offer fundamentally undervalued its operations.

Hellenic Bank began operating in 1976 and has since become the second largest bank in Cyprus, with 513,000 customers, including 495,000 retail customers, a network of 158 ATMs, 52 branches in Cyprus and representative offices in Russia, Ukraine and South Africa as of the end of 2024. In March 2013, Hellenic Bank transferred its branch network in Greece to Piraeus Bank. Eurobank completed its acquisition of Hellenic Bank in May 2025 after a squeeze-out procedure. This followed earlier stages, including a takeover bid that concluded in April 2025. In August 2025, Eurobank merged its wholly owned subsidiaries in Cyprus, i.e. Hellenic Bank and Eurobank Cyprus.

In January 2017, Hellenic Bank selected a solution vendor to provide the architecture for its new omni-channel digital banking system. Hellenic Bank’s next generation omni-channel architecture enables provision of mobile, web and open banking API services. During 2019 the bank implemented Hellenic Bank Wallet, a mobile payment service, and upgraded its core ATM platform with new features such as NFC support.

In September 2017, Hellenic bank opened an app store for developers to showcase products built using the Cypriot bank’s proprietary set of six APIs. Hellenic’s new API development environment lets developers trial the new apps they build using data provided by the bank and provides an entry-point for live production.

Initial figures reveal that over four months there were 395 registered developers, 155 registered apps, a transaction value of €78 million and 153,000 calls to the bank’s back-end system through the set of APIs. As of 2019 the bank expanded the API-orientated approach for servicing new and existing clients with new APIs as part of the regulatory alignment with the PSD2 Directive.

Cyprus Central Bank (CCB) is the central services provider of the cooperative savings and credit institutions (CCIs), which are an important element of the Cyprus banking sector. The 112 local co-ops operated 350 bank branches in 2013 and claimed that no village in Cyprus is without a cooperative credit institution or a consumer cooperative. On 10 March 2014 the CCB was recapitalised with the transfer of an ESM Bond valued €1.5 billion and the issue of the corresponding shares in favour of the Cyprus Government. By the end of April 2014, the recapitalisation of the remaining CCIs was also complete. In 2016, only 18 cooperative banks were left after the completion of the restructuring process in the cooperative sector. By the end of 2017, CCB absorbed the remaining 18 cooperative banks, and CCB was 99.22% state-owned. In September 2018, Hellenic Bank acquired CCB.

AstroBank, formerly Piraeus Bank (Cyprus), unveiled its new name and brand identity in March 2017. Piraeus Bank Cyprus was acquired in December 2016 by a group of international investors led by the prominent Lebanese Banker and former Energy Minister, Maurice Sehnaoui. Piraeus Bank Group (GR) continues to participate in the new bank, with a share of 10.0%. AstroBank had 15 branches at end-2024, and the operations of the Moscow Representative Office were terminated in March 2023. The bank acquired USB Bank (see below) in January 2019, increasing its customer base by 55%.

During 2019 AstroBank signed an agreement with the National Bank of Greece to acquire its Cyprus unit, however, the deal fell through in November 2020 due to AstroBank not fulfilling certain deal conditions. In February 2020, AstroBank and Arab Jordan Investment Bank (AJIB) signed an agreement for the sale and purchase of the branch business of AJIB Bank in Cyprus, however this deal also ended in August 2020 due to pandemic-related delays.

In May 2021, AstroBank entered into an agreement to acquire Byblos Bank, with a view to consolidate it with its own business. The agreement was completed in December 2021.

USB Bank has been a member of BLC Bank-FRANSABANK Group from Lebanon, since February 2011. It had 13 branches at end-2017. Its operations were acquired by AstroBank (formerly Piraeus Bank) in January 2019.

Ancoria Bank – In June 2015, the newly established independent Ancoria Bank announced its launch in Cyprus. Ancoria Bank is licensed, registered and supervised by the Central Bank of Cyprus (CBC). Ancoria offers a range of personal and business banking products and services that can be accessed online or from branch offices in Nicosia, Limassol and Larnaca. It operated three branches at end-2024.

Digital Challenger Banks 

A number of digital challenger banks have entered Cyprus, e.g. N26, Revolut and Wise (formerly TransferWise). They already have a clear Open Banking strategy in place.

In parallel, many Cypriot banks co-operate and partner with trusted digital payment providers and FinTechs to prepare for the Open Banking ecosystem, enrich their digital banking services, and to offer additional mobile banking app features.

In June 2018, digital challenger bank Revolut (UK) partnered with PrimeTel, one of the Telecom providers in Cyprus. They announced the launch of a contactless co-branded PrimeTel VISA card offering a range of unique benefits combined with money transfers.

In October 2019, Dutch digital challenger bank bunq announced that it had commenced operations in Cyprus alongside a further 29 European markets.

Digital Banking 

All Cypriot retail banks offer online banking services and mobile banking apps to their clients. Services available include balance and transaction reporting and payment initiation. As of 2024, internet banking penetration increased to 81% in Cyprus, compared to 71% in 2023. Services available include balance and transaction reporting and payment initiation.

There is no bank-independent electronic banking standard in Cyprus; each bank offers its own proprietary system for corporate banking purposes.

Mobile banking apps with added mobile money transfer services include PayPal.

Hellenic Bank – In 2019 Hellenic Bank launched the Hellenic Bank Wallet, which allows customers to add VISA and Mastercard cards and make payments (including contactless) with Android-enabled smartphones. Bank of Cyprus also offers the BoC Wallet on Android phones.

During 2020 Hellenic Bank reported 178,000 active digital users, giving a digitally active ratio of 67% of total customers, compared to 51% in 2019. The bank placed more emphasis on migrating customers to alternative channels, with more than 85% of total transactions being executed digitally in 2020.

As of 2023, Hellenic Bank reported 280,000 active digital users, with 95% of all transactions conducted through digital channels. Hellenic Bank was the first bank in Cyprus that enabled its customers to register online without having to visit a branch. With more than 200,000 users, the upgraded Hellenic Mobile App enables customers to transfer cash, make payments, pay utility bills and have direct access to their accounts, cards and transactions. No update was provided for 2024.

As of 2021, around 97% of cash transfers were conducted through online banking. Customers with Android or Huawei handsets could also use the Hellenic Bank Wallet, or Apple Pay if they are iPhone or iPad users, to make contactless payments.

Bank of Cyprus (BoC) – During 2020, its digital transformation programme focused on making Bank of Cyprus the leading financial hub in Cyprus through three strategic pillars: developing digital services and products that enhance the customer experience, streamlining internal processes, and introducing new ways of working to improve the workplace environment.

New features were introduced in the Bank of Cyprus mobile banking app in 2020. Users can now use the app to apply and obtain an eIDAS-certified digital signature, which enables them to electronically sign any document on multiple devices. Also, 1bank subscribers can communicate with a call centre agent during working hours via the mobile chat in order to ask questions and resolve issues. As of September 2020, users had the option to receive push notifications via the mobile app instead of SMS messages for card purchases and ATM withdrawals. As of December 2020, users could receive push notifications on their mobile phones to authorise online card transactions through the app (instead of SMS OTP).

In addition to using the mobile banking app, VISA cardholders can make payments using their Garmin or Fitbit smartwatch. In 2020, as part of the bank’s ambition to be one of the cornerstones of the digital economy, customers could authorise the release of their identification details to the Government, using the 1bank credentials, thus enabling a digital registration on the Government Gateway Portal (Ariadni), where they can use electronic services that are made available by the Government of Cyprus.

In addition, Bank of Cyprus was the first bank in the EU to offer its customers the ability to obtain a Qualified Digital Signature through the BoC mobile app without the need for physical presence.

During Q1 2024, two new QuickPay features ‘Split the Bill’ and ’Request Payments’ were launched in the BoC Mobile App, empowering users to share the cost with others or request payments by adding just the contact number and the relevant amount. In July 2024, Bank of Cyprus was the first bank in Cyprus that enabled instant payments via digital channels, providing the ability to the customer to make credit transfers in Euros, making the funds available in the beneficiary customer’s account within ten seconds within Cyprus and outside Cyprus (to 36 countries in the SEPA Zone) (limits for amounts for instant transfers apply). During Q3 2024, the Bank’s Junior App ‘Joey’ was launched, a banking app for kids and teens from nine-17 years old, providing autonomy in a secure environment that enables them to develop money management skills and guardians to maintain control and oversight. During Q4 2024, the new QuickAccount Foreign currency was launched available in Pound Sterling (GBP) and US Dollar (USD), offering customers a preferential FX pricing with live rates and without any FX commission through BoC eFX Convert.

As of 2024, BoC reported more than 480,000 (2023: 450,000) active digital users (users of the internet and/or mobile banking), up by 7% from 2023. The adoption of digital products and services continued to grow and gained momentum in 2023, with 95.6% (2022: 93.9%) of the number of transactions involving deposits, cash withdrawals and internal/external transfers being performed through digital channels (up by approximately 11.8 percentage points from 83.8% in June 2020). In addition, 84.1% (2022: 81.7%) of individual customers were digitally engaged (up by 11.7 percentage points from 72.4% in June 2020), choosing digital channels over branches to perform their transactions. As of the end of 2024, active subscribers of the BOC mobile app grew by 9% from 2023 to 447,000. The number of QuickPay users rose to 229,000 active users (2023: 202,000) in 2024. Furthermore, digital account openings increased by 68% in 2024 to 21,500 from 12,780 in 2023. BoC’s renewed internet banking platform was launched in March 2022.

About Open API Standards

In June 2017, The Berlin Group, the European payments interoperability coalition of banks and payment processors with membership comprising bank backed ACHs and industry bodies, announced it would push a single standard for API access to bank accounts (XS2A) compliant with the PSD2 regulation.

The Berlin Group says its NextGenPSD2 Initiative provides a harmonised API standard for accessing bank accounts. Built as an ‘Access to Account Framework’, The Berlin Group says the standard offers operational rules and implementation guidelines with detailed data definitions, message modelling and information flows based on RESTful API methodology.

As of the beginning of 2021, the Berlin Group NextGenPSD2 was implemented in all EU countries, in several non-EU countries in Europe and in countries outside Europe who are focused on maintaining reachability and compatibility with the European market. Around 80% of European banks and hundreds of third-party providers (TPPs) have implemented the Berlin Group NextGenPSD2 Framework. In 2021, the group was migrated to the Open Finance task force to explore use cases of Open Banking schemes and Open Finance schemes.

Among others, European Open API sets include Open Banking UK, Swiss Corporate API, and STET Open API (F, B).

There are several important updates and recent details to add regarding Open API standards and Open Banking in Europe and Belgium. As of 2024, the Berlin Group, along with other standardisation initiatives, has significantly advanced Open API and Open Finance frameworks, resulting in broader industry adoption and interoperability.​

Berlin Group and OpenFinance API Framework

European Open API Sets and Industry Expansion

These developments mark a transition from PSD2-driven access to a much wider Open Finance landscape, with almost universal bank API implementation, extensive support for business and consumer account types, and expanding services enabling secure, data-driven payments and financial innovations across Belgium and greater Europe.

PSD2 and the Open Banking Mandate

The adoption of the revised Payment Services Directive, PSD2, has set the stage for Open Banking in Europe, a European Open Banking Mandate with significant impact on the financial services industry. PSD2 challenges for banks and FinTechs include Open Banking, Open APIs, and the rollout of digital payment services and mobile apps.

PSD2 lowers the barriers for market entry to third-party service providers, FinTechs, and it opens up doors for innovative players to offer services that currently do not exist, e. g. account information services, third-party personal finance management, digital identity and KYC.

PSD2 is going to change the European payment and banking landscape and ultimately the position and role of banks in the ecosystem. FinTechs drive the change with the banking industry seeking the right strategy.

Post-PSD2, the key question for the financial service industry will be how to grant authorised access for their FinTech partners to bank account information, for instance secure access to account balance, payment data, credit risk and others.

For banks, the impact of the PSD2 is that they are no longer the only ones that have access to the bank customer information. Bank customers will now decide who they want to grant access to their payment information. Alongside this initiative, with new services based on access to bank accounts (XS2A), banks may lose the direct connection to their customers. To maintain their position in the new PSD2 reality, banks will need to adapt their business and operational models.

By mid-2025, notable challenges for the Cypriot banking industry include:

In July 2018, The Cyprus Securities and Exchange Commission, CySEC, announced the establishment of its Innovation Hub, designed to address and explore the rise of FinTech and RegTech developments.

CySEC’s initiative aims to create a platform for dialogue between FinTechs and the RegTech space, facilitating the exchange of information. CySEC encourages a two-way communication: FinTech firms will have access to specialised regulatory expertise, industry and academic roundtables – and will also have a voice to improve CySEC’s understanding of the risks and benefits of new innovative investment products and platforms, using Distributed Ledger Technology (DLT), enabling a more informed regulatory landscape. By the end of 2020, it was reported that there were over 250 FinTech start-ups in Cyprus. In March 2022, CySEC launched public calls for views on establishing a regulatory sandbox. CySEC officially launched its regulatory sandbox in June 2024. In 2017, the Cyprus Investment Agency launched IFX Expo Cyprus, which is now (2025) in its ninth year of operation.

Over 2020, the Cyprus Banks’ Association agreed on a Memorandum of Understanding with the Government, via the Deputy Ministry of Research, Innovation and Digital Policy, on common initiatives to facilitate and expand digital transactions and banking services, aided by the use of electronic identification and electronic signature solutions.

As of 2024, there were five Open Banking bank and account providers, four third-party providers, nine bank APIs and 18 API aggregators.

Payment Services

In Cyprus, the law on payment services adopted the EU payment services directive (PSD) and the EU interchange fee regulation (IFR). Cyprus is also going to adopt the new PSD2 – effective from January 2018.

In 2025, the more than 300 different payment services offered in Europe can be grouped into:

Card Brands and Card Types

At present, there is no domestic debit card scheme in Cyprus. Mainstream in Cyprus are VISA Debit cards, Debit Mastercard cards and credit cards branded VISA or Mastercard.

Cypriot card products like consumer cards, commercial cards and purchasing cards range from classic cards to gold cards and to platinum cards. Additional card features (e.g. picture cards, bonus points, PIN selection at ATMs, cashback, card control by SMS notification and other in-app controls like geo blocking) are used to attract cardholders. Also, individual picture cards and collector cards are issued on demand.

The EMV migration of cards achieved 98% as at end-2011 and was completed in 2012.

From July 2023, banks and other card issuers will no longer issue Maestro cards. Instead, they will need to issue Debit Mastercard. Maestro was launched in 1991, and it was the world’s first debit card that could be used via an online network. About 400 million Maestro cards are in circulation worldwide, mainly across Europe. However, Maestro is not enabled for the demands of e-commerce and cannot be used for online or in-app payments, hence the decision to phase it out in favour of Mastercard Debit products. VISA announced that Electron cards will be phased out globally in 2024. The features of the VISA Debit card have been modified to match the features of the VISA Electron card.

Debit cards issued are VISA Debit and Debit Mastercard cards. Maestro cards have been phased out in favour of Debit Mastercard products. There are no V PAY cards in issue.

Credit Cards issued are cards branded VISA, Mastercard and Diners Club. There are no JCB cards in issue. American Express cards are no longer bank-issued in Cyprus.

Prepaid Cards – Most Cypriot retail banks issue prepaid cards. Hellenic Bank issued the first VISA Electron prepaid card in Cyprus.

Co-branded cards – In Cyprus, only a few co-branded card products are in circulation. Co-branded cards are based on the international card brands Mastercard, VISA or Electron.

Contactless Cards and form-factors

Contactless cards have been successfully tested in Cyprus. From 2012, banks issued contactless card branded payWave or PayPass. Bank of Cyprus was the first Cypriot bank which issued a contactless VISA payWave card. According to the CCB, contactless transactions are used at bakeries, cafeterias, convenience stores, cinemas and fast food outlets at present.

Predefined contactless limits – Contactless payments of purchase amounts below a predefined contactless limit are without PIN or signature and without transaction receipt. In Cyprus, the contactless limit for payments without PIN/signature was set at €20 for cards branded PayPass or payWave. In March 2020, in response to the COVID-19 pandemic, the limit was raised to €50 to encourage more non-cash transactions.

Contactless form-factors – In June 2016, Hellenic Bank launched water-resistant black silicone NFC wristbands, PayBand. The solution features an embedded VISA app linked to the cardholder’s debit or credit card account.

Over 2019 and 2020, Bank of Cyprus rolled Garmin Pay, joining Apple Pay and the BoC wallet app. Amid the COVID-19 pandemic, Cyprus credit card transactions in Q2 2020 increased by 23% annually as consumers turned to non-cash payments.

Recent innovations include Vpayments and Worldline’s June 2025 launch of “Tap to Pay on iPhone,” letting merchants across Cyprus accept in-person contactless payments using only an iPhone, eliminating the need for separate card terminals. This feature supports Apple Pay, contactless cards, and other wallets, prioritising security and ease for merchants and consumers alike.​

Since the original PayBand launch, the contactless payment ecosystem in Cyprus has matured significantly with wider adoption of wearable payment devices like Garmin Pay, rapid growth in contactless card usage, mobile wallet integrations, and innovations that enable merchants to accept contactless payments using smartphones alone.

Interchange Fee Arrangements

International and Intra European Non-EEA Interchange Fees are set by the members of the international card schemes to be applied in case of cross-border transactions or foreign cards used in Cyprus, respectively. The effective rates of Mastercard and VISA can be found on the respective Mastercard and VISA websites.

In Cyprus, domestic Merchant Interchange Fee (DMIF) rates for Cypriot cards are defined by Mastercard and VISA, respectively. The interchange fee regulation 2015/751/EU applies for Cypriot card business.

Interchange fees in Cyprus for card payments follow the EU regulatory caps and are managed primarily by Visa and Mastercard schemes.

Consumer Card Interchange Fees

Detailed Mastercard Rates in Cyprus (as of 2025)

Commercial and Special Cards

American Express – As a result of the EU regulation of interchange fees (IFR), American Express elected to exit all of its bank licensing arrangements in the European Union. This means that they have terminated all licenses with its existing EU partners, stopped issuing new cards and are in the final stages of the process of closing down all operations directly related to bank licensing. Over the course of 2019, American Express credit cards issued under independent operator agreements were rendered invalid in all countries of the European Union. Various banks that have up to now had exclusive licensing contracts with American Express have already responded accordingly and provided their clients with the opportunity to switch to other card brands.

From 2020, American Express Payments Europe is now the sole issuer and acquirer of American Express cards in Europe, including Cyprus. However, American Express Payments Europe continues its local sales partner arrangements with local acquirers enabling the use of American Express cards at ATMs and POS terminals.

E-Money 

In Cyprus, the law on e-money services has adopted the e-money directive of the EU (EMD).

As of 31 December 2024, there were 25 e-money institutions (EMI) licensed by the CBC in Cyprus. Also, CBC recorded 214 foreign EMIs that operate in the country on a cross-border basis.

In addition, software-based e-money e-/m-wallet services are also offered by international payment service providers and e-wallet issuers from the EEA region. They provided notification of operating in Cyprus under the EU passport system.

Prepaid Products – paysafecard (A) entered Cyprus and launched its prepaid product, paysafecard.

Digital Account-to-Account Payment Services 

In the Yearbooks, account-based payment services are classified as IBAN-based payment services in SCT/SDD format offered by banks or by independent payment initiation service providers (PISP).

SEPA credit transfers and direct debits are processed via the JCC Transfer system.

Credit transfers are used for both high-value corporate and low-value retail payment transactions. They can be paper-based or automated. Credit transfers can be initiated by mail, by ATMs or online by PCs or by mobile phones. Electronic credit transfers are used by the government and companies for salary, supplier, and benefit payments. In particular electronic credit transfers have increasingly been used for retail payments since banks in Cyprus began to charge for utility payments paid over their branch counters.

On 1 February 2014, SEPA credit transfers (SCT) replaced all previous credit transfer schemes in Cyprus. All the banks in Cyprus participate in the SEPA Credit Transfer (SCT) scheme.

Direct debits are particularly used for low-value recurring payments such as utility bills. On 1 February 2014, SEPA direct debits (SDD) replaced all previous domestic direct debit schemes in Cyprus. All the banks in Cyprus participate in the SEPA Direct Debit (SDD) scheme.

Instant payments (SCTINST) is the IBAN-based immediate payment scheme in Europe, officially launched in November 2017. It makes funds immediately available to the beneficiary – compliant with existing SCT infrastructure. The regulators will require all banks to offer Instant Payments from 2018.

Among others, the characteristics of SCTINST include an initial maximum of €15,000 with the funds made available on the beneficiary’s account in less than ten seconds, 24/7/365 real-time processing, and immediate refunds in the case that the SCTINST payment was not successful. From July 2020, the maximum for instant payments will be €100,000.

Chaired by the ECB, in 2014, the Euro Retail Payments Board (ERPB) identified the need for a pan-European instant euro payment solution. In April 2016, EBA Clearing started the SCTINST project with more than 40 large European banks involved. In November 2016, the European Payments Council (EPC) published the SCTINST scheme and SCTINST rule books version 1.0 while the ERPB provided the governance model. In November 2017, EBA Clearing completed the pan-European instant payments infrastructure, RT1.

SEPA credit transfers and direct debits can be settled on a same-day or next-day basis. In 2023, about 50% of all IBAN-based payments in Europe were processed intra-day, or even immediately inside of the same bank group. Potential first use cases for SCTINST in Cyprus may include P2P, mobile banking apps, online payments, and B2B.

As of June 2025, 2,765 banks from 36 European countries had registered for the SCTINST scheme. This represents 78% of all SCT scheme participants.

As in many European countries, bank transfers have been adopted for online payments, enabling consumers to pay directly from their bank account as an alternative service to payment cards.

Account-based payment service brands offered in Cyprus include Klarna’s SOFORT.

In 2022, CBC reported 11 PISPs licensed in Cyprus. Authorised in another EEA member state, 252 cross-border PISPs have provided notification of operating in Cyprus under the EU passport system. This number has likely remained stable or seen modest growth due to the continued demand for payment initiation and Open Banking services in Cyprus.

Advanced Payment Services

In the Yearbooks, advanced payment services are classified as online wallets, e-wallets, and/or mobile wallets with any type of payment service chosen by the wallet user to complete the payment.

In selected Cypriot online shops, the wallets PayPal and Skrill are offered as payment means.

PayPal – PayPal is present in Cyprus. As of end-2024, PayPal reported 434 million active customer accounts globally, up 2.1% from 426 million in 2023. This consisted of 398 million customer active accounts and 36 million merchant active accounts across approximately 200 markets. PayPal’s total payment volume increased to $1.68 trillion (up from $1.53 in 2023) and customer engagement grew to an average of 60.6 transactions per active account, driving 3% growth in transactions per active account at the end of 2024.

During 2020, with consumers worldwide embracing digital wallet capabilities, the company launched several related services including QR Code Checkout, Buy Now Pay Later, Crypto purchasing and Xoom direct transfers to bank accounts and debit cards.

In June 2018, PayPal continued its shopping spree with a $400 million cash deal to acquire e-commerce platform Hyperwallet. The acquisition followed deals to buy Venmo, Xoom, Sweden’s iZettle (renamed Zettle) for $2.2 billion and AI-based merchant marketing outfit Jetlore, as PayPal bids to extend its reach to all corners of the payments market.

In May 2022, PayPal Ventures invested in Modulr, an embedded payments platform for digital businesses, as part of a $108 million Series C funding round led by General Atlantic, Blenheim Chalcot, Frog Capital, and Highland Europe. Modulr delivers payments infrastructure for over 200 top-tier customers, including Revolut, Wagestream, Sage and BrightPay, and processes an annualised transaction value of more than £100 billion.

In 2023, PayPal was exploring the sale of Xoom, its international money transfer subsidiary, in a bid to cut costs and focus on high-growth business areas – as of November 2025, PayPal had not completed the sale. Also, Stax Payments – an all-in-one payment provider for businesses – announced its partnership with PayPal in July 2023. This partnership will allow PayPal’s users to easily make payments with more than 20,000 merchants of Stax through a fast checkout process as well as new payment options such as Buy-now-pay-later solutions.

In 2023, PayPal launched its own US dollar-denominated stablecoin, PayPal USD (PYUSD), which is fully backed by US dollar deposits, short-term US treasuries, and similar cash equivalents and designed for digital payments and Web3. Eligible US PayPal customers who purchase PayPal USD will be able to transfer the token to external wallets, send person-to-person payments, fund purchases at checkouts supported by PayPal, and convert cryptocurrency holdings to and from PayPal USD.

In January 2024, PayPal launched AI-powered features to drive personalised offerings for both merchants and customers based on the data it possesses. These features include Smart Receipts (for merchants) which predicts what shoppers may want to buy next from the merchant. The merchant can then offer personalised recommendations, and cashback offers on this receipt. A major feature for users is CashPass which will use give users personalized cashback offers based on an AI analysis of their spending activity.

In March 2024, PayPal launched a complete suite of payment processing tools for online small businesses in the UK, Canada, and across more than 20 European markets. The PayPal Complete Payments package enables small businesses to accept an expanded range of payment instruments including PayPal, buy now pay later, Apple Pay, Google Pay, credit and debit cards, and alternative payment methods from around the world. By April 2024, PayPal added new features to its complete payments solution for small businesses to enable small businesses to accept a range of payments including PayPal, Venmo and PayPal Pay Later products. PayPal also gave small businesses access to four new features to help them drive payment acceptance and enhance how they run their business, and this will include Apple Pay as a checkout option.

In 2025, PayPal significantly enhanced its offerings for small businesses by introducing PayPal Open, a unified commerce platform that consolidates all of PayPal’s merchant solutions into a single interface. This platform provides small businesses with access to a comprehensive suite of tools, including payment processing, financial services, and AI-driven insights, all designed to streamline operations and foster growth.

Amazon Pay – was introduced in 2007. The payment service enables Amazon customers to checkout at participating third-party merchant sites using their Amazon credentials.​

Launch Date: Amazon Pay first launched in August 2007 as “Pay with Amazon,” later expanding globally and adding features for third-party merchant acceptance.​

Functionality: All active Amazon customers can use their Amazon credentials for checkout at partnered merchants—Amazon Pay is available in 18 countries as of October 2024.​

Global Usage: Over 50 million customers have used Amazon Pay for purchases worldwide, with a large share coming from Amazon Prime members, but recent statistics indicate over 3.2 billion transactions processed in 2025 and 600,000+ merchants accepting Amazon Pay as of June 2025.​

Prime Share: More than half of Amazon Pay users are Amazon Prime Members, matching your note on demographics.​

Market Impact: By the end of 2025, Amazon Pay accounts for approximately 6% of the global online payment market, processing an estimated $85 billion in payments.​

Expansion: Amazon Pay experienced 20% growth in mobile usage and 13% total transaction growth from 2024 to 2025.​

Merchant Share: SMEs comprise around 70% of all merchants using Amazon Pay.

Digital Payment Services

In the Yearbooks, digital payment services are classified as card-based payment services using EMV tokenisation security on the internet combined with HCE NFC technology in the case of contactless payments at POS terminals.

As of mid-2025, the Click to Pay online payment checkout service was available, replacing the previous MasterPass and VISA Checkout services respectively. Click to Pay is a joint service between Mastercard, VISA, Discover and American Express, enabling consumers to make secure one-click payments without having to enter card details or passwords online.

Contactless payments on cards using Apple Pay, Samsung Pay, or Google Pay (previously Android Pay) made by foreign users at POS terminals in Malta are believed to be processed as card payments.

Global contactless transaction values will reach $15.7 trillion by 2029 with value of contactless payment transactions growing by 113% over the next 5 years up from $7.4 trillion in 2024.

Contactless ticketing spend will increase by more than 460% globally between 2024 and 2029 reaching $154 billion in 2029.

Overall growth in contactless transaction values will be catalysed by growing mobile payments adoption, with 99% of all smartphones capable of making contactless payments by 2027, and average transaction values for Apple Pay reaching $28.20 and $33.40 for Google Pay.

Apple Pay has become one of the world’s most used digital payment methods. Its user base increased from 521.4 million to 535.8 million in 2022 and now sits at 785 million users worldwide at end 2024.

This payment method is also available in over 85% of US merchants and 60% of stores globally.

As of August 2024, the estimated total Apple Pay in-store sales now sit at $268 billion, up from $213 billion last year.

As of 2023, Apple Pay processed 14.2% of all online consumer payments and 5.6% of all in-store purchases globally, global transaction volume (2025 estimate) is $7.6 trillion.

In the US its Apple Pay users are measured as ~63.9 million (2025 forecast), with in-store U.S. retail sales via Apple Pay sitting at ~$268 billion (as of August 2024).

Putting it all together, Apple Pay is increasingly becoming an effective customer acquisition and retention feature for Apple. In June 2022, Apple Pay added Apple Pay Later, its buy-now-pay-later service, allowing users to split purchases into four equal instalments with no interest or fees. Initially launched in the US, the service is expected to roll out to other countries during 2023. In 2023, Apple launched its Card savings account from Goldman Sachs with a 4.15% annual percentage yield. Apple Wallet users can set up and manage a savings account directly from Apple Card in Wallet, with no fees, no minimum deposits, and no minimum balance requirements.

As of October-2025, Apple Pay is supported by 39 banks and payment providers in Cyprus.

Google Pay current data shows around 820 million active users across 45 global markets.

In January 2022, it was reported that the company was planning to transform Google Pay into a “comprehensive digital wallet”, following the app’s reported slow growth and the shutdown of Plex. In April, it was reported that Google was planning to revive the “Google Wallet” branding in a new app or interface and integrated with Google Pay. Google officially announced Google Wallet on May 11, 2022, at the 2022 Google I/O keynote. The app began rolling out on Android smartphones on July 18, replacing the 2018 app and co-existing with the 2020 Google Pay app in the US. While the app name itself was changed from Google Pay to Google Wallet, the service name of actually paying for things online or in-store remains “Google Pay.”.

In the US, Google Pay has over 165 million users.  Also, Google Pay is used on nearly 800,000 websites as a secure payment gateway. Roughly 20% of all mobile purchases are made using this digital payment processor. Google Pay ranks 3rd among mobile payment methods globally. In Russia, it has an online usage distribution of 35.18% and has recorded approximately 1,281,838 transactions online. Available in 19 countries, 30% of Google Pay’s active users are millennials. It is one of Canada’s top 5 online payment apps and is the primary mobile payment method for 2,193 businesses worldwide. In India, Google Pay boasts 67 million active users and holds 36.10% of the mobile application market. Its widespread adoption and significant market share highlight its growing importance in the global digital payment landscape.

Google Pay is available through 36 banks and payment providers in Cyprus as of October 2025.

Samsung Pay is available in 29 countries worldwide and has an estimated 150 million users. Samsung Pay works with a broad range of Samsung Galaxy phones, including the latest Galaxy S22 and newer models, as well as many previous models like the Galaxy S8.

Samsung claims that its system will work with almost all point-of-sale systems: NFC, magnetic stripe and EMV (Europay, MasterCard and Visa) terminals for chip-based cards. In June 2022, Samsung Pay was renamed to Samsung Wallet in the US, UK, France, Germany, Italy, and Spain. Along with the renaming came new features such as the ability to store digital assets and digital keys within the Wallet app.

Samsung Pay is not yet available in Cyprus.

Overview of Cashless Payments

Card payments have increased in popularity over the last few years. In 2024, they amounted to 73.81% of all cashless payments compared to 55.85% in the EU. They showed a 21.87% growth rate between 2020 and 2024. It is noted, the cashless payment figures from 2014 can no longer be compared to the figures of the previous years due to the enhanced statistical reporting of the CBC and the ECB.

Credit transfers (15.10%) are the dominant cashless payment instrument by value in Cyprus. Direct debit use (3.88%) includes, from 2013, all financial institutions participating in the Cypriot direct debit system.

In 2024, there was a high level of 318.2 cash-less payments per capita, up 3.17% from 2023. They were composed of 248.7 card payments per capita, 50.9 credit transfers per capita, and 13.1 direct debits per capita.

Cheques remain an important cashless payment instrument in Cyprus in terms of volume and is used for both retail and commercial payments. Cheques (1.65%) decreased by 15.96% from 2023.

3 - Cashless Payment Transactions in Cyprus
(Millions)202020212022202320242025FGR 23/24GR 5YCAGR 5Y
Card payments102.1130.1182.1220.6242.0294.99.67%168.82%21.87%
Cheques issued6.45.57.26.45.44.5-15.96%-47.75%-12.18%
Credit transfers27.432.638.143.849.557.612.96%114.00%16.43%
Direct debits9.39.914.915.012.713.5-15.31%32.64%5.81%
Total145.2178.1263.1306.6327.9370.56.93%146.38%19.76%
Total card payments per capita114.5144.5199.5238.0248.7303.14.49%143.63%19.49%
Total cheques issued per capita7.26.17.96.95.54.7-19.93%-52.65%-13.89%
Total credit transfers per capita30.736.241.747.350.959.27.62%93.95%14.17%
Total direct debits per capita10.411.016.316.213.113.8-19.31%20.21%3.75%
Total cashless payments per capita162.8197.8265.5308.4318.2380.83.17%110.87%16.09%
Note: totals include "other payment services".
Source: ECB, CBC.

Exchange Rates

Cyprus joined the euro system thus bringing to fruition the island’s goal of becoming a fully integrated member of the EU. Cyprus adopted the euro as its currency on 1 January 2008. Previously, the exchange rate was pegged at €0.58 to the Cyprus pound.

Market Infrastructure

In the absence of a common e-invoice standard at European level, the EU has developed a common European template for the core data model of e-invoicing in order to eliminate barriers to cross-border transactions due to different legal requirements and technical standards. In April 2019, Cyprus approved the bill on the harmonisation with the Directive 2014/55/ EU on mandating e-invoicing in the public sector. The directive was issued back in 2014 but its harmonisation with the Republic of Cyprus took place by the implementation deadline of 18 April 2019.

The CBC oversees the real-time gross settlement system TARGET2-CY, which is part of TARGET2, which is the Eurosystem’s real-time settlement system. The CBC acts as a participant bank as well as the operator of TARGET2-CY, in line with the Guideline ECB/2012/27 and the TARGET2-CY CBC Directive, as amended. TARGET2 processes the bilateral settlement of payment orders submitted by direct participants, as well as orders from ancillary systems resulting from the clearing and net settlement process. In 2023, the Eurosystem concluded the ambitious project that entailed the technical and operational consolidation of TARGET2 and T2S, and which aimed at achieving synergies and further facilitating related procedures. In March 2023, the new system TARGET became operational thereby replacing TARGET2.

In 2024, the total number and value of domestic transactions settled through TARGET-CY increased by 18% and 9%, respectively, compared to 2023. In 2024, the total volume of outward and inward cross-border transactions settled through TARGET-CY decreased by 6% and increased by 1%, respectively, compared to 2023. In value terms, in 2024, the outward and inward cross-border transactions settled through TARGET2-CY increased by 1% and 8% respectively, compared to 2023. In November 2021, an amending Guideline of TARGET2 entered into force and has been transposed into national law. The revised Guideline modifies aspects of the ECB/2012/27 (i) in light of the forthcoming migration to the future TARGET Services consolidated platform, (ii) reflects the TIPS reachability measures which were approved by the Governing Council in July 2020, and (iii) extents the endpoint security requirements for TARGET2 participants.

The aim of the T2-T2S Consolidation project is the consolidation of the TARGET2 and T2S services of the Eurosystem, both technically and operationally, in a new consolidated platform. The objective of the new consolidated platform is to respond to the changing needs of the market by replacing TARGET2 with a new RTGS, optimising liquidity management across all TARGET Services. The CBC is in close cooperation with all the participants monitoring the progress of the project according to the project’s milestones, to ensure the smooth implementation in November 2022. In 2022, the ECB’s Board of Directors decided to move the system’s implementation date from November 21, 2022, to March 20, 2023, to give users more time to complete their tests in a stable environment. The decision also took into account the importance and the systemic nature of T2. Since March 2023, the CBC has the responsibility to manage its own component, this being ΤΑRGET-CY, in line with ECB and CBC Guidelines.

The Cyprus Clearing House (CCH) has been operating since 1964 and aims to harmonise the procedures for the clearing and settlement of cheques. The decrease in the number and value of cheques reflects the impact of the current health crisis, that is the shrinking observed in economic activity on the one hand, and the preference observed on the usage of electronic means of payment against cheques on the other hand.

JCC Payment Systems

Founded in 1989 as the banks’ acquiring business, JCC Payment Systems Limited is the primary processor of card transactions in Cyprus, handling VISA, Mastercard, American Express and Diners Club. It manages the national card authorisation centre, the nationwide ATM and POS networks and the interbank electronic transfer centre.

Bank of Cyprus is the biggest shareholder in JCC, with 75% of the shares from March 2013. The remaining 25% is owned by a consortium consisting of Hellenic Bank, Alpha Bank (Cyprus), National Bank of Greece (Cyprus), and AstroBank.

Other shareholders are Hellenic Bank Public Company Ltd, Alpha Bank Cyprus Ltd, National Bank of Greece (Cyprus) Ltd and AstroBank Ltd

JCC maintains a database of merchants registered to accept cards and has more than 20,000 merchant relationships, including 450 public and private organisations in Cyprus. It is responsible for signing up and servicing merchants and for processing, clearing and settlement of payments. Its other responsibilities include coordination of smart card and electronic commerce project activity, and general interbank cooperation.

As of mid-2025, local banks processed by JCC are: Bank of Cyprus, Hellenic Bank, Alpha Bank, National Bank of Greece, AstroBank, Cyprus Central Bank (CCB), USB Bank, Société Générale, CDBank, and BNP Paribas.

At present, JCC also provides acquiring services to the following institutions: Cyprus Central Bank (CCB), Alpha Bank, Société Générale Bank Cyprus, USB Bank, CDBbank, BNP Paribas etc. JCC also acquires transactions on behalf of American Express, Diners Club, and, from 2019, JCB. JCC is a recognised partner for Mastercard.

As the banks’ smart cards and electronic commerce project coordinator, JCC has developed new services like top-up of mobile phone prepaid cards and electronic road tax renewals through JCCSmart.

Another innovation, JCCExpress, allows quick payment by card for low value items, with participating merchants including bakeries, dry cleaners, fast food restaurants and news-stands. The card is put through the merchant’s terminal, and a receipt is issued without the need for a signature.

Card Issuers – Overview

Cypriot banks issue credit cards, charge cards, debit cards and prepaid cards in combination with bank accounts. Addressing the specific needs of personal banking and business banking, the card portfolio is composed of consumer cards, business cards and corporate cards.

Dedicated card products are offered for the individual client segments: families, millennials, students, affluent clients, small business clients, corporate clients and even basic account clients. The credit cards offered range from classic cards to gold cards and platinum cards.

Most Cypriot retail banks issue cards. Cypriot banks issue debit cards (Maestro, VISA Debit, Electron), credit cards (Mastercard, VISA), and prepaid cards. Bank of Cyprus was previously the American Express and Diners Club card issuer.

The leading issuer is Bank of Cyprus (incl. Laiki Bank cards). Other issuers include Hellenic Bank, USB Bank, AstroBank, and the Greek banks NBG Cyprus and Alfa-Bank (Cyprus). Table 4 illustrates the card brands issued by the leading card issuers in Cyprus as of mid-2025.

4 - Leading Card Issuers in Cyprus
Domestic IssuersIssued Card BrandsOwned by
Bank of Cyprus (BoC)Mastercard, VISA, Diners; VISA DebitInvestors: 90.09%, CPB: 4.82%, EBRD: 5.09%
Hellenic BankMastercard, VISA; Debit Mastercard, VISA DebitDemetra Investments (21.3%); Eurobank S.A. (56%), others: 22.7%
Alpha Bank (Cyprus)Mastercard, VISA; VISA DebitAlpha Bank Group (GR)
National Bank of Greece (Cyprus)Mastercard; Debit MastercardNBG Group (GR)
AstroBankVISA; VISA DebitInvestors: 90.0%, Piraeus Group (GR): 10.0%
Société Générale Bank CyprusVISA, VISA DebitSociété Générale Bank Libanon (RL)
Ancoria BankMastercard, Debit MastercardSievert Larsson Group: 51.39%, Ancoria Insurance: 20%, others: 28.61%
Note: Bank of Cyprus ceased issuing American Express in 2018 consistent with American Express change of policy (see text).
Source: PCM research

Outlook – By mid-2025, Cypriot card issuers face the following notable challenges:

Card Processors and PSPs

In Europe, the payment processing industry is composed of card processors, ATM/POS network hub processors, e-/m-payment service processors (PSPs), and specialised processors (e.g. CSM processors, TSM services).

In Cyprus, card issuer processing services range from technical issuer processing, including card printing, to full cardholder processing services. They include all types of cards and card technologies allowing for card use in multi-channels (i.e. at ATMs, POS terminals, on the internet and in-store mobile payments in the future).

Acquirer processing services in the country range from technical acquirer processing, including POS terminal services, to full merchant processing services. Usually, ATM/POS network processing is part of acquirer processing while payments on the internet are routed by specialised e-/m-payment service processors (PSPs) to the card acquirers and independent payment service providers (e.g. PayPal), respectively.

JCC Payment Systems Limited is the primary issuer processor in Cyprus, handling VISA, Mastercard and Diners Club credit cards and debit cards (Maestro, Electron, and V PAY). In 2018, JCC reported more than 85,000 issuer transactions per day, of which more than 10,000 per day are e-commerce transactions. Also, JCC is the acquirer processor for VISA, Mastercard, American Express, Diners, UnionPay, JCB and Discover cards in Cyprus.

Most debit card and credit card payments branded VISA or Mastercard are processed by the JCC Payment Cards System, which has 20 direct participants. American Express and Diners Club payment transactions are cleared by their respective international card schemes.

Online Payment Service Processors (PSPs) 

Online payment service processors (PSPs) are specialised technical processors for all kind of secure online payments and mobile payments. Some of them also offer virtual PSP platform services (VPSP) for bank acquirers who want to take advantage of a kind of ‘internet network processor’.

Online shops of merchants are directly connected by an API interface or a hosted payment page either to the internet payment gateway of a bank acquirer, or they are connected to multi-acquirers through a PSP.

PSPs usually partner with more than one card acquirer and payment initiation service providers. Core services offered by PSPs may include payment gateways to card acquirers and other online payment service providers, online payment processing, risk management services, and collection services for merchants.

Security technologies applied to ensure secure online card payments include EMV tokenisation and strong 3D-Secure (MCSC, VbV, SafeKey) combined with one-time tokens. For card-less payment services, the security technologies applied include userID/password combined with one-time tokens and online banking access with one-time TAN.

JCC remains the dominant card payment processor and merchant acquirer in Cyprus, serving most retail and online merchants with services like card acceptance, fraud prevention, 3D Secure, tokenization, and settlement. It is majority-owned by Bank of Cyprus along with major local banks.​ Bank of Cyprus recently cancelled plans to sell JCC, emphasising investment in its growth and performance as part of its broader payments strategy.

Other resident PSPs in Cyprus include Unlimint and WireCapital, which provide payment processing and merchant acquiring services, though with smaller market shares compared to JCC.​

Foreign PSPs remain very active, servicing approximately 20 Cypriot online merchants. Notable multinational PSPs operating in Cyprus include:

Adyen (Netherlands), Worldline (France), JPMorgan Commerce Solutions (Ireland), DataCash (UK), WorldPay (UK), Paysafe Group (including Skrill UK, Paysafecard Austria).​

The PSP market in Cyprus is mature, with JCC dominant for local acquiring and foreign PSPs providing international merchant payment solutions across multiple channels.

CardPay is a PSP company focused on payments and transactional services. The company is also active in e-commerce merchant acquiring and card issuing services. In June 2017, CardPay signed a direct license agreement to accept online payments with JCB cards across the SEPA region. As of 2022, CardPay was rebranded Unlimint.

Acquiring and Acceptance 

In Europe, most acquirers offer multi-channel card acceptance and value-added merchant services at POS terminals, mobile MPOS terminals and online shops. The leading acquirers usually act on a European level and offer their services cross-border.

Additionally, innovative acquirers also offer the acceptance of card-less payment services based on partner agreements with the issuer of those payment services (e.g. account-based payments, wallets, prepaid products).

Most acquirers either operate their own acquirer systems and ATM/POS/MPOS network service hubs, or they use the processing services of external processors. In order to service online merchants in Europe, they may operate their own PSP processing platforms or they co-operate with one or more specialised online payment service processors (PSPs).

From 2009, European acquirers compete in their home markets, cross-border on a European level, and cross-channel at POS terminals and servicing online merchants. From 2016, innovative acquirers started to offer omni-channel and multi-payment acceptance.

By mid-2025, omni-channel acceptance includes the ability to service all channels (i.e. POS/MPOS terminals, mobile in-store, online shops, in-app), and to accept multiple payment means in all of these channels. Multi-payment services demanded by merchants include cards, IBAN-based payments (SCT, SDD), online wallets, digital wallets, prepaid products, and immediate payments.

Outlook – By mid-2025, Cypriot acquirers face the following notable challenges:

The leading Cypriot acquirer is JCC Payments which acts as acquirer on its own behalf for VISA, Mastercard and cards. In 2016, the JCC card payments value acquired was €3.4 billion in Cyprus and €1.4 billion abroad. However, subsequent updates were not provided.

RCB was an acquirer of American Express cards. JCC, Bank of Cyprus and AstroBank are the V PAY acquirers. From 2019, JCC is the JCB acquirer. Cyprus-based Unlimint claims to be a leading online merchant acquirer.

As of 2024, Worldline is also active in the Cypriot market, acquiring JCB, UnionPay and Diners Club transactions.

It is also believed that other Cypriot banks accept debit card payments from the merchants they service. Table 5 illustrates the card brands accepted by the acquirers in Cyprus as of mid-2025.

5 - Leading Acquirers in Cyprus
Domestic AcquirersAcceptance Brands offeredOwned by
JCC Payment SystemsMastercard, VISA, American Express, Diners, JCB; Maestro, Electron, V PAY BoC: 75%, 4 Cypriot Banks: 25%
Bank of Cyprus (BoC)American Express, Diners, Discover; Maestro, Electron, V PAYInvestors: 90.09%, CPB: 4.82%, EBRD: 5.09%
AstroBankMastercard, VISA; Maestro, Electron, V PAYInvestors: 90.0%, Piraeus Group (GR): 10.0%
Worldline JCB, UnionPay, DinersWorldline (F)
Note: all acquirers have their own PSP services or co-operate with PSP partners.
Source: PCM research

According to CBC, in July 2014, the Cyprus branch of FBME Bank was placed under resolution and therefore the smooth functioning of FBMECS’s clearing and settlement system for payments with cards was adversely affected, making necessary the temporary suspension of both the acquiring and issuing activity of FBMECS in August 2014. The CBC also temporarily suspended the e-money licence of FBMECS. According to the CBC, both license suspensions were set until 31 December 2015. Both companies returned to service again in 2016.

Payment Institutions

As of 2024, there were 18 payment institutions operating in the Cypriot financial market.

Also, CBC recorded 286 foreign payment institutions with EU passport, of which six operate in Cyprus through an agent. Most of these payment institutions are involved in money remittance services.

ATM Terminal Infrastructure 

All ATM arrangements are agreed bilaterally between the banks involved. However, all the individual bank-owned in-house ATM network hubs in Cyprus and JCC’s own ATM network are connected via the JCC ATM sharing network. The EMV migration of ATMs, which achieved 64% at end-2010, was completed in 2013.

Cypriot ATM terminals are open for debit cards (Maestro, Cirrus, Electron, Plus, and V PAY) and credit cards (Mastercard, VISA, American Express, Diners, Discover, and JCB). ATM service languages include Greece, English, French, German, and Russian. So far, UnionPay cardholders cannot withdraw cash at Cypriot ATMs.

In 2024, there were 398 ATMs (same as in 2023) and 15.12 million cash withdrawals (-6.33%) with a total value of €5.39 billion (+7.13% vs 2023). There were on average 3,166.7 transactions per ATM per month, and the ATV per cash withdrawal accounted for €356.41, up by 14.36% from 2023.

6 - ATMs and Cash Withdrawals in Cyprus
202020212022202320242025FGR 23/24GR 5YCAGR 5Y
ATM Terminals4554513923983983980.00%-13.48%-2.85%
Ø Number of TXs per ATM per month3,567.83,640.13,665.63,380.73,166.72,966.7-6.33%-10.77%-2.25%
Number of ATM cash withdrawals (m)19.4819.7017.2416.1515.1214.17-6.33%-22.80%-5.04%
- on domestic cards (m)16.5717.0015.2614.4913.5112.60-6.73%-23.65%-5.25%
- on foreign cards (m)2.912.701.981.661.611.56-2.84%-14.81%-3.16%
Value of ATM cash withdrawals (€bn)4.504.904.905.035.395.777.13%34.23%6.06%
- on domestic cards (€bn)3.964.384.514.715.045.407.09%42.41%7.33%
- on foreign cards (€bn)0.540.520.390.330.350.387.67%-26.53%-5.98%
ATV per cash withdrawal€230.92€248.80€284.32€311.65€356.41€407.5414.36%73.86%11.70%
# ATM Terminals per 1m capita - Cyprus510.1500.9429.5429.3409.0409.0-4.73%-21.58%-4.75%
# ATM Terminals per 1m capita - EU27 total685.3677.7677.7677.7677.7677.70.00%-21.31%-4.68%
Source: ECB, CBC.

Among individual banks, BCY reported 136 ATMs, Hellenic Bank: 158, Alpha Bank: 16, National Bank of Greece (Cyprus): five, AstroBank: 15, all at the end of 2024 (See Table 2 – Main Banks in Cyprus 2024).

At the same time as undertaking the IT upgrades necessary for adoption of the euro on January 1, 2008, the Bank of Cyprus launched a project to manage its ATM networks in Cyprus and Greece on the same platform, so enabling interoperability between these networks. This formed part of the overall ‘One Bank’ project, which unifies the bank’s IT systems in Cyprus and Greece, allowing accountholders to effect transactions via the branch network in either country.

Cash-advance Services in Cyprus – Competition for ATMs 

In an Open Banking ecosystem, the dominant role of ATMs for cash withdrawal services may decline as more cash-advance and cash handling services are offered at retail outlets in Europe.

Cash in-Store – In parallel to ATM cash withdrawals on cards, the Cypriot banks support cash-advance services on cards at POS terminals in retail outlets (see below).

POS Terminal Infrastructure 

The POS network in Cyprus is operated by JCC. Some banks operate their own POS terminal network hubs but are interlinked through JCC to form a national POS network. EMV migration of POS terminals achieved 90% at end-2011 and was completed in 2013.

Accepted card brands at most Cypriot POS terminals are debit cards (Debit Mastercard, VISA Debit, Maestro, Electron, and V PAY), and credit cards (Mastercard, VISA, American Express, Diners, Discover, and JCB). Since June 2012, UnionPay cardholders can pay with their card at selected retail stores that are popular with tourists. Also, Dynamic Currency Conversion (DCC) and Tax Refund services are offered at tourist locations.

Due to the euro crisis, card payments at POS terminals continued to decline by number from the peak in 2011. In addition, the POS payments value declined in 2013 and in 2014.

In 2023, there were 151,167 POS terminals (+6.06%) and 472.31 million POS payments (+2.48%) with a total value of €8.37 billion (-14.01% vs 2023) giving an average of 260.4 POS payments per POS terminal per month. The ATV per POS payment accounted for €17.72. From 2015, POS payments continued to grow following the decline period from 2011 to 2014, with the COVID-19 pandemic accelerating the growth rate as cash payments were discouraged.

7 - POS Terminals in Cyprus
202020212022202320242025FGR 23/24GR 5YCAGR 5Y
POS terminals 108,168 117,574 136,215 142,532 151,167 164,350 6.06%51.90%8.72%
Ø Number of TXs per POS per month71.886.3155.8269.5260.4231.1-3.37%318.42%33.14%
Number of POS payments (m)93.22121.80254.65460.87472.31455.722.48%535.60%44.76%
- on domestic cards (m)76.43103.50110.52168.44140.60168.57-16.53%147.75%19.90%
- on foreign cards (m)16.7918.30144.13292.43331.72287.1513.44%1789.05%79.99%
Value of POS payments (€bn)5.888.107.149.738.379.26-14.01%133.88%18.52%
- on domestic cards (€bn)4.937.085.226.305.085.83-19.36%99.61%14.82%
- on foreign cards (€bn)0.951.021.923.443.293.43-4.21%218.11%26.04%
ATV per POS payment€63.08€66.50€28.04€21.12€17.72€20.32-16.09%-63.20%-18.12%
# POS Terminals per 1m capita - Cyprus121,264.6130,587.0149,244.0153,738.0155,342.6168,890.11.04%37.67%6.60%
# POS Terminals per 1m capita - EU27 total31,503.734,817.044,815.544,815.544,815.548,528.80.00%48.89%8.29%
Note: some figures are estimated.
Source: ECB, CBC.

The CBC reported a high 155.34 POS terminals per 1,000 capita compared to the EU average of 44.82 terminals per 1,000 capita. It is noted that – like in Turkey, Italy, Spain, and Greece – Cypriot merchants may have multiple POS terminals from different acquirers in their outlets at the same time. Also, JCC connects POS terminals abroad to its POS network which are believed to be included in the total POS terminal number in Cyprus.

Cash-advance Services (‘cashback’) at Cypriot POS terminals are offered by many merchants. However, cash-advances by value have declined, since 2008. Due to the euro crisis, cash-advances at POS terminals were de-facto phased-out at end-2013, e.g. Bank of Cyprus charged 3.33% with minimum €4.40 per cash-advance transaction. However, the Cypriot banks now consider cash-advances on cards at POS terminals as one alternative option to reduce the number of ATMs.

Mobile MPOS Terminals – Mobile merchants (i.e. no fixed outlet) have started to use their smartphones and tablet PCs as a kind of mini-POS+ECR device with added chip reader dongle. In late 2012, Square clones like iZettle, SumUp, Miura and others have launched their MPOS services in the UK and in Europe. It is believed that Cypriot merchants also demand MPOS terminals. Further, merchants can initiate MOTO-like card payments on their smartphones and tablets by downloading a payment app.

In October 2017, SumUp launched its MPOS terminal service in Cyprus. Small business owners in Cyprus can take card payments with their smartphone and the SumUp Air card reader without any monthly fees or contractual obligations.

SmartPOS Terminals – In 2018, POS terminal vendors launched innovative new types of POS terminals. Named SmartPOS terminals, they combine the electronic cash register functionality (ECR) used by merchants in outlets with a contactless POS payment terminal and merchant services in the cloud. For the very first time, the so far separated ECR devices and POS terminals are integrated in just one checkout solution device. From late 2018, SmartPOS terminal vendors like Castles, Clover, Ingenico, Justtide, Handpoint, PAX, Poynt, Verifone, Worldline, and others have launched their SmartPOS devices and services in Europe. It is believed that Cyprus SME merchants will embrace SmartPOS terminals.

In October 2021, JCC Payment Systems integrated the SoftPOS service from FinTech provider Phos into a new payments app, aimed for Cypriot retail cash-based merchants. The new app will provide merchants with access to payment solutions through their mobile device.

In October 2022, after completing the sale of its POS division, Worldline announced the closing of the acquisition of 55% of the capital of SoftPos.eu, which transforms Android mobile devices into secure payment terminals. The acquisition is part of Worldline’s strategy to provide payment solutions adapted to all forms of commerce and move towards a more advanced POS terminal business. On the back of SoftPos.eu, Worldline will launch Worldline Tap on Mobile, an end-to-end solution, based on an Android app, allowing all merchants of all sizes to accept payments using a smartphone, tablet, or a professional terminal.

Remote Payments on the Internet

By end-2024, Cyprus continued to be a small e-commerce market in Europe with an emerging online shopping population. From 2015, due to EU VAT regulation, Cypriot merchants have to collect the applicable VAT rate for cross-border sales based on the consumers’ residence. Additionally, the Cypriot banks have started to work on the implementation of the SecuRe Pay guidelines on the security of internet payments.

Internet Use – In 2024, 95% of Cypriots used the internet and 65% of all internet users have purchased online in the last 12 months. About 86% of Cypriot online buyers purchased from neighbouring EU countries, e.g. in Greece. Around 95% of Cypriot online shoppers buy from foreign e-commerce websites. Online buyers purchase using their PCs, notebooks, tablets, or smartphones. Thus, remote payments are initiated from various types of internet-capable devices. Cypriot businesses have been building up their e-commerce capacities for some time. The number of companies with digital operations has increased by more than 200% since 2016 and a bigger rise in businesses for whom online sales comprise over 25% of turnover.

The Cypriot acquirer JCC operates jccsmart.com, an online marketplace where merchants and buyers have the ability to meet online in order to conduct safe and secure purchase transactions.

In 2024, the total B2C e-commerce purchase value was €0.83 billion, down by 12.16% from 2023. The online purchase value per capita amounted to €852.9, while it was €1,246.6 per online buyer. The ratio of e-GDP to total GDP in 2024 was 2.48% (see Table 8).

8 - Internet Use in Cyprus
202020212022202320242025FGR 24/25GR 5YCAGR 5Y
Households with internet access93%93%94%92%95%92%2.84%5.47%1.07%
Last internet use (individuals, 12 months)91%91%91%91%95%98%3.97%10.47%2.01%
Internet users who bought online52%59%55%62%68%74%9.68%50.88%8.57%
Last online purchase (individuals, 12 month)47%54%50%57%65%73%14.04%66.67%10.76%
Last online purchase (individuals, 3 month)31%44%44%44%44%48%0.00%41.94%7.26%
Mobile phone subscriptions per 100 population139.6%148.7%149.0%156.0%156.0%159.4%0.00%11.44%2.19%
B2C e-commerce revenue (€bn)0.600.680.750.740.830.9312.16%59.62%9.80%
Annual B2C eCommerce growth rate/year15.4%13.3%10.3%-1.3%12.2%12.0%−-65.66%-19.25%
Ø B2C e-Commerce amount per capita €672.6€755.3€821.7€798.2€852.9€955.76.86%44.66%7.66%
Ø B2C e-Commerce amount per online buyer€1,302.4€1,272.8€1,495.6€1,279.5€1,246.6€1,283.0-2.57%-4.12%-0.84%
Sources: Eurostat, ITU.

Cards on the Internet (CNP) – All cards with international brands are accepted in Cypriot online shops in the case that the merchant has signed an acceptance contract accordingly. Also, Cypriot banks issue prepaid cards and virtual cards for internet use only. 3D-Secure technology is recommended when paying online with cards in online shops. Further, web-based mail order services for merchant-initiated payments and Dynamic Currency Conversion (DCC) are offered.

The Cypriot e-payment mix as preferred by the online buyers is dominated by credit/debit cards and cash-on-delivery. In addition, online bank transfers, payments-on-invoice, wallets (e.g. PayPal) and prepaid products are used.

Remote Payments on the Mobile Internet – Since 2011, online buyers with a high affinity for smartphones have started to use their mobile phones for shopping on the mobile internet. Mobile online shops can be accessed by mobile internet, by mobile app, or by scanning a 2D QR-code displayed in a newspaper or at a bus station. Thus, remote mobile phone payments are executed either by using the e-payment page of the mobile online shop or by using payment apps of a PSP or an acquirer.

Also, Cypriot merchants can download a payment app from their acquirer in order to initiate MOTO payments with cards and/or online direct debits. Leading Cypriot merchants are testing their own mobile apps including loyalty functions (e. g. e-vouchers, discounts, outlet finder, QR-code scanning).

Mobile Payments – Overview

In 2024, 156.0% of Cypriots have subscribed to a mobile phone. More than 88% of Cypriots own a smartphone. Tablet penetration continued to grow and was estimated at 48% in 2022.

Since 2011, the next generation of mobile services and payments has started, pushed by the online buyers’ high affinity to smartphones and tablets and also by new disruptive technologies (1D-barcodes, QR-code, Bluetooth BLE, and Near Field Communication NFC).

Mobile initiatives in Cyprus are field testing and using new technologies either as initiating form factors to bridge to online shops on the internet (1D-barcodes, QR-code, NFC) or to enable contactless access to the retail POS outlet (1D-barcodes, QR-code, BLE, Bluetooth Low Energy, NFC Stickers, Mobile NFC Phones) e.g.:

The m-Payment Mix in Cyprus – There are no official m-payment statistics, but PSP information indicates that the domestic m-payment mix is similar to the e-payment mix (see Remote Payments on the Internet section).

Mobile Payment Initiatives

In 2025, the various European mobile payment initiatives can be grouped into

Only mobile services are provided by the local mobile network operators. M-parking is one of the SMS payment services successfully practiced in Cyprus.

No specific mobile payment initiatives beyond the remote payment use of smartphones on the internet can be reported.

European Payments Initiative (EPI) – In July 2020, a group of 16 major Eurozone banks announced the start of the implementation phase of a new unified payment scheme, the European Payment Initiative (EPI).

In 2021, the 31 founding bank groups from seven European countries and two third-party acquirers had included:

In March 2022, EPI gave up on its effort to build a rival to Mastercard and VISA in Europe after more than half its members left. However, 13 shareholders confirmed on February 25th that they remain convinced of the strategic value of a unified payment solution, leveraging instant payments, and want to go ahead. Therefore, the EPI interim company is now adapting its scope and objectives to this new dimension excluding cards.

The remaining shareholders of EPI include Banco Santander, Banque Fédérative du Crédit Mutuel, BNP Paribas, Crédit Agricole, Deutsche Bank, Deutscher Sparkassen- und Giroverband, Groupe BPCE, ING Bank, KBC Bank, La Banque Postale, NETS (NEXI), Société Générale and Worldline.

In April 2023, the European Payments Initiative acquired the Dutch payment scheme iDeal and, the mobile payments app, Payconiq, both supported by a host of Belgian and Dutch banks.

In July 2024, EPI launched its mobile-first wallet and instant account-to-account payment solution, Wero, for customers of German Sparkassen and Volksbanken, Raiffeisenbanken.

Since its launch in July 2024, Wero has expanded its availability across Europe. By June 2025, the service had been introduced in Germany, France, and Belgium, with plans to extend to Luxembourg in June 2026 and the Netherlands in 2027. The wallet has gained significant traction, reaching approximately 70 million users by September 2025, with 43.5 million active users across the three initial countries.

In Belgium, major banks such as Belfius, BNP Paribas Fortis, ING, and KBC have integrated Wero into their offerings.

The ambition of EPI is to create a unified pan-European payment solution leveraging Instant Payments, SCTINST, offering a card for consumers and merchants across Europe, a digital wallet, and P2P payments.

The solution aims to become a new standard payment service for European consumers and merchants in all types of transactions including in-store, online, cash withdrawal and “peer-to-peer” in addition to existing international payment scheme solutions.

EPI’s objective is to offer a digital payment solution that can be used anywhere in Europe and to supersede the fragmented landscape of domestic payment services that currently still exists. In doing so, EPI founders are responding to merchant and consumer communities that have been calling for payment initiatives to take a more pan-European approach.

EPI will first and foremost benefit European citizens, and it will also bring tangible benefits to European merchants, by offering them a seamless, competitive, and unified pan-European payment service solution that is also available to all European consumers.

The beginning of the implementation phase is expected to materialise through the creation of an interim company in Brussels, Belgium, which will set out clear deliverables including the completion of the technical and operational roadmap and initiating the implementation work. The accomplishments of this interim company will be evaluated by each bank before moving on to the EPI’s final corporate structure.

Wero – In September 2023, EPI has selected ‘Wero’ as the commercial name for its forthcoming digital wallet solution. The Wero digital wallet will be rolled out in phases, initially to support account-to-account based instant P2P and consumer-to-business payments, followed by online and mobile shopping payments and then point-of-sale payments. EPI aims to launch Wero by mid-2024 in Belgium, France, and Germany, followed by the Netherlands, and aims to extend to other countries in the years to come. By November 2024, Wero had reached ~14 million users and processed ~8 million transactions in the live markets (Germany, France, Belgium) since its launch in July 2024.

As of September 2025, Wero has rapidly expanded its user base, reaching 43.5 million registered users across Germany, France, and Belgium. In Germany alone, approximately 1.3 million users are utilizing the service through Sparkassen banks. The platform has processed over €7.5 billion in transactions, underscoring its growing adoption.

In December 2023, EPI completed its first instant A2A payment transaction in a proof-of-concept between customers from German Sparkasse Elbe-Elster and French Banque Populaire and Caisse d’Epargne (Groupe BPCE). The inaugural transaction, worth 10 euros, was sent from a German account to a French account using SCTINST and the EPI’s digital wallet.

Central Bank Digital Currencies, Cryptocurrency Products 

In 2024, the Cypriot payment ecosystem was composed of traditional cash payments, digital cryptocurrency products of independent payment service providers and research and development of central bank digital currencies – CBDC. The regulation of cryptocurrencies is becoming increasingly relevant as independent cryptocurrency products have grown more prevalent, posing challenges for regulators and national central banks.

In July 2023, the European Union introduced the Markets in Crypto-Assets (MiCA) regulation, which aims to standardise cryptocurrency regulation across member states, including Luxembourg. This regulation addresses various aspects of crypto assets, such as market integrity, consumer protection and financial stability, while also promoting innovation in the sector. Under MiCA, crypto-asset service providers will have specific obligations to protect users’ wallets and mitigate investment risks.

Central Bank Digital Currencies (CBDC) – The Digital Cash Challenge 

Central bank digital currency (CBDC), also called digital fiat currency or digital base money, is a digital currency issued by a national central bank (NCB), rather than by a commercial bank. It is also a liability of the NCB and denominated in the sovereign currency, as is the case with physical banknotes and coins.

All CBDCs are under the authority of the respective national central bank, and they are part of the domestic cash payment ecosystem. Rather than a new currency, CBDC is a form of central bank electronic money that could be used by households and businesses to make payments. In addition, most CBDC implementations will likely not use or need any sort of distributed ledger such as a blockchain.

Unlike “retail CBDC,” which is generally designed as a central bank liability universally accessible to individuals and businesses within a jurisdiction’s financial system, “wholesale CBDC” refers to a digitized central bank liability designed for sizable (generally interbank) transactions, and for which access is limited to certain financial institutions.

National Central Banks (NCBs) have been providing trusted money to the public for hundreds of years as part of their public policy objectives. Trusted money is a public good. It offers a common unit of account, store of value and medium of exchange for the sale of goods and services and settlement of financial transactions. Providing cash for public use is an important tool for central banks. Yet the world is changing.

Even before COVID-19, cash use for payments was declining fast and convenient digital payments have grown enormously in volume and diversity. To evolve and pursue their public policy objectives in a digital world, central banks are actively researching the pros and cons of offering a digital currency to the public, a “general purpose” CBDC.

Central banks’ interest in CBDC has increased as a potential means of delivering their public policy objectives. Profound, ongoing changes across finance, technology and society, as well as the recent COVID-19 crisis, provided additional impetus for the research of, and experimentation related to, CBDCs.

CBDC is a national digital currency issued by the central bank that is expected to replace or coexist with fiat money and hold the same value. Mobile money, on the other hand, utilises existing commercial banking-based accounting to manage customer wallet balances based on an exchange with cash or lines of credit and loans.

CBDC is a direct liability on the central bank as it is the main issuer of the currency, whereas digital money is the liability of commercial banks and other authorised financial institutions using funds on account. Although some implementation approaches propose that CBDC can be implemented in either an indirect or hybrid form, its liability remains on the respective national central bank.

Background on CBDC Evolution

In October 2020, the Bank of Canada, the Bank of England, the Bank of Japan, the European Central Bank, the Federal Reserve, Sveriges Riksbank, the Swiss National Bank and the Bank for International Settlements (BIS) published a report, Central bank digital currencies: foundational principles and core features, identifying the foundational principles necessary for any publicly available CBDC to help central banks meet their public policy objectives.

The report focused on a publicly available “general purpose” CBDC (a digital payment instrument, denominated in the national unit of account, that is a direct liability of the central bank).

A “wholesale” CBDC, restricted to financial institutions, is also an active area of exploration, notes the report, for central banks but one that carries different opportunities, challenges, and risks. The report explored the use cases for, and challenges and opportunities arising from, the possible issuance of a general purpose CBDC.

In September 2021, the same seven central banks and the BIS followed up with the publication of a new set of reports exploring the potential of retail CBDCs, including policy options and practical implementation issues. While none of the central banks has yet decided to proceed with a retail CBDC, they recognise such an instrument would have wide-ranging implications. Delivering on the future needs of consumers would require systems that encourage innovation, choice, and competition among a diverse mix of intermediaries.

BIS reported that a 2021 survey of central banks found that “86% are actively researching the potential for CBDCs, 60% were experimenting with the technology and 14% were deploying pilot projects.

The People’s Bank of China (PBoC) is piloting a ‘digital yuan’, known as e-CNY, in various cities, often in association with major sporting events, such as the Winter Olympics.

The ECB published a paper on the potential of a “digital euro” in October 2020, exploring the “benefits and risks” of such an initiative. It completed a public consultation in January 2021 and a series of focus groups in December 2021. Its investigation stage is expected to continue until October 2023, after which the ECB “will decide whether to start developing a digital euro.”

The US Federal Reserve reported in February 2022 that while it has made no decisions about “whether to pursue or implement” a CBDC, it was “exploring the potential benefits and risks of CBDCs from a variety of angles and was inviting public feedback on discussion papers.

The Bank of Japan said in October 2020 that it had no plans for a CBDC and was committed to maintain the cash system as long as there was public demand for it. It nevertheless intended to explore technical feasibility through a proof of concept, consider institutional arrangements and coordinate approaches with domestic and international stakeholders. In 2023, the Bank of Japan (BOJ) has announced that it will begin a pilot for its digital yen with commercial financial institutions. In February 2023, Bank of Japan has embarked on a CBDC trial.

In June 2023, the BIS and BoE said they completed a CBDC pilot project involving CBDCs jointly run by the Bank of England (BoE) and the Bank of International Settlements (BIS). Project Rosalind was designed to explore how a “universal and extensible API layer” could connect central bank and private sector infrastructures and enable retail CBDC payments. The project also sought to develop a number of retail-CBDC use cases.

According to the BIS and BoE, the project has successfully demonstrated that “a well-designed API layer could work with different private sector applications and central bank ledger designs and that a set of simple and standardised API functionalities could support a diverse range of use cases”.

In all, the project led to the development of 33 API functionalities and examined 30 retail CBDC cases including peer-to-peer transfers, retail payments for goods and services and small-value business transactions.

While CBDCs are still in experimental phases across major economies, 2024 has seen increased momentum towards real-world implementation, with several countries, notably China and the ECB, moving closer to full-scale rollouts. Public-private collaboration, technological innovation, and privacy concerns remain central to future CBDC development. Central banks worldwide continue to balance innovation with maintaining public trust and financial stability in this rapidly evolving space.

Global Status of CBDCs 

Most National Central Banks (NCBs) are involved in different stages of a CBDC project. Especially, the NCBs have different views on which kind of CBDC they would intend to launch as a digital currency:

As of 2023, the global CBDC status reveals that four central banks – Nigeria (e-Naira), Eastern Caribbean (D-Cash), Jamaica (JAM-DEX), and the Bahamas (Sand Dollar) – have introduced a domestic CBDC scheme.

Six countries have launched a CBDC pilot: France, Canada, China, India, Saudi Arabia, and Ghana.

The NCBs of most other countries are involved in either a CBDC proof-of-concept phase – including Norway, Hungary, and Sweden – or they are still in a CBDC research stage.

So far, Ecuador is the only country that has cancelled its CBDC ambitions, Dinero electronico.

CBDC, the European Union and the Digital Euro

In July 2021, the Estonian Central Bank released a report about its experiment with the ECB and the central banks of Spain, Germany, Italy, Greece, Ireland, Latvia, and the Netherlands to assess the functionality of the digital euro. The project was able to conduct 300,000 transactions per second, with an average rate of less than two seconds per transaction.

In June 2023, the European Commission (EC) has published its legislative proposal establishing the legal framework for a possible digital euro, stressing that the CBDC would be a compliment to, not replacement for, cash.

A digital euro would be available alongside existing national and international private means of payment, such as cards or applications. It would work like a digital wallet, with people and businesses able to pay with it anytime and anywhere in the euro area.

The digital euro would be available for payments both online and offline. While online transactions would offer the same level of data privacy as existing digital means of payments, offline payments would essentially be like paying with cash – with nobody able to see what people are paying for.

The digital euro would be distributed by banks and other payment service providers, with basic services provided to people free of charge. Merchants would be required to accept the digital currency unless they are cash-only firms.

The EC’s proposal still needs to be adopted by the European Parliament and the European Council before the European Central Bank decides whether to roll out a digital euro. Notably, the European Central Bank (ECB) is involved in the preparation phase, which will run until 2025. During this time, technical experimentation and legal discussions are ongoing before any formal rollout decisions can be made​.

As of 2025, the digital euro remains in development but has advanced beyond its early investigation stage. The European Central Bank (ECB) concluded its two-year investigation phase in October 2023 and entered a two-year preparation phase that runs until October 2025. During this stage, the ECB is refining the design, engaging market participants, testing prototypes, and drafting a comprehensive rulebook.

In 2024, the ECB published two progress reports (in June and December) and a third one in July 2025, detailing technical work, design choices (e.g. offline use, calibration, holding limits) and collaboration with stakeholders. The most recent report included further refinement of the rulebook, more user research, and expanded experimentation. The ECB launched an innovation platform that invited private and public sector actors (banking, fintech, merchants) to test ideas, use cases, conditional payments, and prototype features. Around 70 market participants are reported to have been engaged.

On the legal side, the European Commission’s draft regulation for a digital euro is still under negotiation by the European Parliament and Council. Adoption of this regulation is essential before the ECB can issue the digital euro. ECB leaders, including Christine Lagarde, have called on lawmakers to accelerate this legislative process. By October 2025, the ECB has indicated a second phase of the preparation for the Digital Euro. By then, the ECB will have prepared an outreach plan, procurement standards, and technology providers.

CBDC and Cyprus

Cyprus is actively exploring the implementation of a Central Bank Digital Currency (CBDC) as part of its digital payments ecosystem. The Central Bank of Cyprus (CBC) is working on the potential introduction of a digital euro, which could accelerate the adoption of electronic payments in the country.

Pros and Cons of CBDCs

According to research by the Bank of England, BIS, and by several other central banks, the benefits of CBDCs include supporting increased innovation in the payment system with:

Possible challenges related to use of CBDCs could include:

The ECB commissioned multiple exploratory reports on the feasibility of a digital euro in 2020 and 2021. The ECB’s working paper suggests a two-tier system for a “general purpose” CBDC. In July 2021, the ECB announced that it would launch a 24-month investigation phase for the digital euro project, which aims to address key issues regarding the design and distribution of a digital euro. The investigation phase will include focus groups, prototyping and conceptual work. In February 2022, the European Commission announced that it will propose a bill that would serve as the legal foundation for the issuance of a digital euro by the ECB. In May 2022, Christine Lagarde stated that she would be willing to back the digital Euro. By June 2023, the ECB and European Commission had significantly advanced their legislative and technical work, moving closer to launching a pilot phase for the digital euro in 2024. The pilot phase is expected to assess the practical implementation of the digital euro, following the completion of the current investigation period​.

The working paper states that the use of CBDC for retail payments is the primary use-case for the development of a digital Euro. The paper also rejects the motivation of using CBDC as a store of value, which would involve consumers switching deposits from commercial banks into CBDC. The working paper also recommends that a CBDC should be interest-bearing, with attractive interest rates offered for smaller sums suitable for payments and lower rates available for larger amounts.

Cryptocurrencies EU

The regulation of crypto assets and related services across Europe is not standardised and is highly fragmented. While no nation has outright banned usage of cryptocurrencies like Bitcoin, Ethereum and others, regulators have not formed a consensus over how to legislate such a quickly fluctuating market, where new cryptocurrencies emerge faster than regulators can catch up to.

The current approach across Europe is to adapt existing legislations to encompass cryptocurrencies, however, this is unlikely to be efficient as consumer and business usage changes.

In the European Union, the fifth Anti-Money Laundering Directive (AMLD5) covers certain crypto assets under the term “virtual currencies”, but it does not provide a harmonised approach. As a result, each Member State has created its own regulatory regime for transactions related to “virtual currencies” or crypto assets.

In response, the European Commission proposed the Markets in Crypto-assets (MiCA) regulation in 2020 as part of the Digital Finance Strategy, with MiCA expected to come into force in 2022 and will be directly applicable in all Member States after an 18-month transition period. MiCA will result in a harmonised set of rules for products and services and legal certainty related to crypto assets throughout the European Union in 2024. This would enable a larger number of investors to be active in this area and to use distributed ledger technology (DLT).

MiCA is to apply to all persons who want to issue crypto assets or provide services related to crypto assets in the EU.

The MiCA proposal is intended to lay down uniform rules on transparency and disclosure requirements for the issuance, offer to the public and the admission to trading of crypto assets. In addition, there are rules on the authorisation and supervision of crypto asset service providers and their issuers.

The main focus lies with the issuers of asset-referenced tokens and e-money tokens. The Regulation intends to regulate the operation, organisation, and governance of issuers of asset referenced tokens and e-money tokens and crypto asset service providers. There will also be investor protection rules for the issuance, trading, exchange, and custody of crypto assets. In addition, measures to prevent market abuse are to be included in the Regulation to ensure the integrity of the crypto assets markets.

In June 2022, the EU Council President and European Parliament reached agreement on MiCA regulation, ruling that crypto asset service providers will require authorisation to operate in the EU, not including NFTs or media-related digital assets.

Under the agreement, the regulatory framework will protect investors and consumers, while ensuring financial stability and enabling innovation and growth. The regulations will help protect consumers from fraud and scams, as crypto asset service providers will be liable if they lose assets and fail to protect investors’ wallets. The European Banking Authority (EBA) will form a public register of non-compliant crypto asset providers.

The regulation will also implement restrictions on stablecoins, with stablecoin issuers to be supervised by the EBA and their “holders will be offered a claim at any time and free of charge.”

Unregulated Cryptocurrency Products – Background 

Regulators and national central banks are challenged by unregulated independent cryptocurrency products. Whereas CBDCs are under the authority of the central bank, almost all cryptocurrencies are decentralised, and not controlled or managed by any central authority.

Obviously, financial market authorities and the national central banks are not in favour of unregulated cryptocurrency products, and they see them as a systematic risk for the financial system. Their intention to regulate the respective cryptocurrency exchange platforms has gained momentum.

Cryptocurrencies, originally designed as a store of value, are digital assets, developed and maintained on decentralised blockchains, and they can be used as a medium of exchange or payment method. Bitcoin and Ethereum are the most popular forms of cryptocurrencies worldwide used by consumers and businesses for transactions.

As of 2022, over 400 million people worldwide used cryptocurrencies, with merchants and businesses in more sectors accepting it as a form of payment. The major payment schemes VISA and Mastercard, PayPal and along with a growing number of financial institutions, have launched services allowing consumers to purchase or use cryptocurrencies for a range of applications.

According to a 2022 Deloitte survey, around two-thirds (64%) of surveyed merchants indicated that their customers have significant interest in using digital currencies for payments, and 83% expect consumer interest in digital currencies for payments to increase or significantly increase over the next 12 months.

In addition, merchants are motivated by the prospect of enabling immediate access to funds (40% of respondents), taking advantage of blockchain-based innovations in decentralised digital finance (39%), and allowing in-house management of the revenue cycle/treasury/finance department (39%).

Over half (54%) of large retailers (with revenues of $500 million and up) have invested more than $1 million on enabling digital currency payments, while only 6% of small retailers (with revenues of under $10 million) did so.

A 2022 survey from Checkout.com found a sharp rise in people wanting to use cryptocurrencies as a means of payment, with 40% of 18-35-year-old consumers citing their desire to experiment with using crypto as a payment method, up from less than 30% in 2021. Meanwhile, over 80% of businesses say offering crypto has attracted new customers, led to a decrease in chargebacks, while just over 60% have seen higher authorisation rates accepting crypto payments.

Current estimates put cryptocurrency ownership in Europe at around 18 million people.

In November 2020, CySEC passed Circular C417 on “Prudential Treatment of Crypto Assets and Enhancement of Risk Management Procedures Associated With Crypto Assets.” The purpose of the Circular is to ensure that Cyprus investment firms adequately cover their investments in cryptocurrencies and adequately manage the risks associated with cryptocurrency trading. Also, CySEC issued the circular to guide firms that invest in cryptocurrency and provide them confidence that they are complying with Cyprus laws.

In December 2021, the Cyprus finance ministry moved to regulate the cryptocurrency industry by releasing a national risk assessment on crypto regarding money laundering risks related to virtual asset activities and virtual asset service providers (VASPs). The Ministry of Finance of Cyprus stressed that there is a “limited direct understanding or experience” regarding money laundering risks of crypto in the country.

As of June 2022, the Cyprus government was vetting a Distributed Ledger Technology Bill, focused on clarifying policies around the digital asset industry and amending existing related laws, such as property law and tax codes. Key provisions include clarity around taxation and token issuance, plus a measure enabling CySEC to issue related secondary legislation.

A recent report by Triple-A for 2024–2025 reports estimate cryptocurrency ownership in Europe has climbed to approximately 50 million people, up from around 30 million in 2023. Crypto adoption in Europe grew to 8.9% of the adult population in 2025, driven by greater institutional access, major regulatory changes (like MiCA), and clearer frameworks for exchanges and wallet providers. This keeps Europe’s ownership rate ahead of previous years, though still trailing regions like Asia and the Americas in terms of total share and growth rate.

Stablecoins

Stablecoins are a type of asset-backed cryptocurrency, whose value is typically pegged to the value of an underlying asset such as USD, GBP, or commodities like gold. Stablecoins are partially backed by real assets, and they are designed to have a value pegged to real-world assets, therefore avoiding the extreme volatility that affects cryptocurrencies.

Stablecoins offer the potential benefits of cryptocurrencies, like transparency, security, immutability, and decentralised control, while maintaining the guarantees and stability that come with using fiat currency. Stablecoins have potential to be used in cross-border payments, providing a secure, online environment for peer-to-peer (P2P) transactions to take place without needing decentralised cryptocurrencies or to pay fees to convert money into local currencies.

As of mid-2025, there were more than 200 stablecoins globally, comprising a market that’s worth about $230 billion.

A survey of central banks in January 2021 found that two-thirds of respondents are actively researching the potential impact of stablecoins on financial stability. However, some regulators in the US and China, consider stablecoins as a potential serious risk to financial systems. The risk is especially high with centralised coins, such as those backed by fiat and issued by private organisations, as economic power would be disproportionately concentrated on a single entity.

The widespread use of stablecoins in payment platforms could also pose a systemic risk, in relation to the validation and confirmation of stablecoin transactions which could interfere with payment systems. If stablecoin users couldn’t access money in their e-wallets and businesses couldn’t receive payments, economic activity would be greatly disrupted. However, these risks have not deterred major institutions like JP Morgan and VISA to explore stablecoin use cases via partnerships and internal R&D.

Tether As of mid-2025, Tether remains the largest stablecoin globally, holding a market share of over 60%. This dominance is driven by its massive liquidity, broad adoption across exchanges and blockchains, and large reserve holdings, especially in U.S. Treasuries. Its nearest competitors include USD Coin (USDC), Binance USD (BUSD), and decentralized stablecoins like DAI, although Tether’s market share far exceeds them. Recent reports have shown Tether’s involvement in major financial markets and even Bitcoin mining, further reinforcing its stronghold on the crypto landscape.

Regarding Facebook’s Diem (formerly Libra) project, it was officially abandoned. Diem’s assets were sold off to Silvergate Capital in early 2022, marking the end of the initiative that once aimed to create a globally accessible digital currency. Regulatory pressures and internal challenges led to the dissolution of the project.

Market Size and Dynamics

Cards in Issue

The number of cards declined from 2011 to 2014 due to the mergers of Cypriot banks following the financial crisis in Greece.

While there is no recent publicly available information, it is likely VISA remains the major brand in Cyprus. Historically, it reported 630,000 cards on all platforms in 2005 – 299,000 Electron cards and 331,000 VISA Classic, Premium, and commercial cards.

Based on ECB figures, in 2024, there were 2.40 million cards in Cyprus, up by 9.11% from 2023. Debit cards accounted for 83.57% of the total card base. Credit cards amounted to 15.36% of the card base, respectively. In 2024, there were 2.09 bank cards per capita.

9 - Cards Issued in Cyprus
(000s)202020212022202320242025FGR 23/24GR 5YCAGR 5Y
Cards with a cash function1,358.11,414.61,890.12,037.12,214.42,407.18.70%69.54%11.14%
Cards with a payment function1,335.71,376.71,718.91,859.02,031.62,196.09.28%58.09%9.59%
- Cards with a debit function1,101.61,158.61,429.51,552.71,697.81,856.59.35%68.44%10.99%
- Cards with delayed debit function11.610.017.319.721.826.010.65%142.53%19.39%
- Cards with a credit function222.4218.1272.1286.6312.0339.58.84%16.37%3.08%
Cards with an e-money function342.4355.3197.1221.3243.6250.910.06%259.15%29.14%
Total cards1,387.11,466.42,046.92,206.12,407.12,446.99.11%77.93%12.21%
Payment cards per capita - CY1.501.531.882.012.092.264.12%43.28%7.46%
Payment cards per capita - EU27 total1.651.721.721.721.721.750.00%9.71%1.87%
Source: ECB, CBC.

Card Fraud

Card fraud is one of the most fascinating aspects of the payments industry, not least because it is relentless and mutating. EMV implementation and 3D-Secure, combined with Strong Customer Authentication (SCA), have done much to reduce domestic losses from lost and stolen cards in Europe. However, the war against fraud losses and the changing face of fraud continues to be a threat for the payments industry, including Cyprus.

The global card fraud challenges are Card-Not-Present fraud (CNP), cross-border fraud and counterfeiting on non-EMV cards. CNP fraud accounted for 80% of the total value of card fraud losses in 2020. From 2017, a new payment fraud category are fraud losses on contactless card payments. International card fraud continues to be smaller in scale than domestic card abuse but is proportionately far more common. And of course, fraudulent cross-border transactions on cards continue to grow on all purchase channels.

Losses from card fraud on the internet and cross-border fraud on domestic cards have grown significantly. Following EMV implementation, card fraud has moved increasing to countries where POS terminals or online shops have not yet been migrated to EMV and SCA, respectively, and to cross-border fraud with compromised cards.

The breakdown of card fraud losses by method of compromise already indicates the importance of distinguishing between domestic and cross-border fraud losses. The method of compromise covers the means by which fraudsters obtain payment cards or card details. Notable methods of compromise in a complex payment world are CNP fraud based on theft of card credentials and card lost and stolen fraud followed by growing ID fraud and by cross-counterfeit fraud.

The main method of compromise responsible for losses in many European countries is now the theft of card credentials. A high proportion of these card fraud losses are caused by the growth in e-commerce, and still the lack of use of strong customer authentication methods such as 3D-Secure.

In a post data-breach world, identity information, payment credentials, account credentials and responses to security questions are widely available for purchase in bulk. Complete fraud exploits and zero-day attacks are also easily available on the black market for outright purchase or as a hosted / fully managed service.

In the digital payments world and having the changing face of fraud in mind, there are significant challenges for card issuing banks, payment service providers and their supporting processors.

According to ECB figures published in October 2021, the value of fraud as a share of transaction value in Cyprus in 2019 was 0.013% by value and 0.013% by volume. According to ECB figures for H1 2023, the value of card fraud as a share of transaction value in Cyprus was 0.021% (EU/EEA average: 0.031%) and 0.009% (EU/EEA average: 0.015%) by volume.

In 2019, acquirer card fraud losses by channel were composed of ATM fraud: 0%, POS fraud: 12% and CNP fraud: 88%.

In 2019, issuer card fraud losses by channel were composed of ATM fraud: 6%, POS fraud: 3% and CNP fraud: 91%.

As most POS card transactions are authorised online-to-issuer, acquirer fraud rates in Cyprus are under control except for offline vending machines, e-commerce and a few other hotspots. Obviously, EMV implementation has contributed significantly to declining fraud rates.

Cypriot banks are pushing 3D-Secure, offer PIN-change services at ATMs and SMS notification to inform cardholders about the use of their credit card. The increasing numbers of chip technology cards, contactless cards, and display cards have led to improved safety of payment transactions. Credit card fraud prevention measures taken have been pushing 3D-Secure, updating banks’ fraud prevention systems and real-time-scoring, and implementing more rule-based fraud control mechanisms.

Card fraud is the dominant form of payment fraud in Cyprus, accounting for 94% of all fraudulent payment transactions by volume, according to a Central Bank of Cyprus (CBC) report for H2 2024. Although card fraud accounts for the majority of cases, the financial losses are greater from credit transfer fraud due to higher values involved per incident.

Card Fraud

Credit Transfer Fraud

Card Use

Historically, Cypriot credit cards were used more frequently than debit cards, but in 2010, debit card payments by number and by value were, for the first time, higher than credit card payments, respectively.

The impact of the COVID-19 pandemic on card usage in Cyprus has led to a large rise in the number of card payments.

There were 16.41-times as many card payments as there were cash withdrawals on cards. Card payments recovered from the decline in 2013-14 and showed a CAGR of 22.02% between 2020 and 2024.

In 2024, there were 230.53 million card payments (+9.14%) with a total value of €14.38 billion (+8.91% vs 2023). The ATV per payment was €62.39, and there were on average 113.5 payments per card per year, down by 0.13% vs 2023. Debit card payments amounted to 87.13% by number and 81.47% by value.

Included in the card payments total in 2024 were 67.17 million remote payments (+9.26%) with the total value €8.13 billion (+12.02 vs 2023).

10 - Payments with Cypriot Cards
202020212022202320232024FGR 22/23GR 5YCAGR 5Y
Cards with a payment function1,335,6661,376,7351,718,9391,859,0062,031,5692,196,0359.28%58.09%9.59%
Ø payments per card per year72.489.9101.4113.6113.5128.4-0.13%71.07%11.34%
Ø payment value per card per year€4,773.4€5,354.0€6,376.5€7,104.1€7,079.8€7,133.3-0.34%55.89%9.29%
Payments (m)96.72123.80174.28211.22230.53282.049.14%170.45%22.02%
- remote payments (m)18.5024.1047.9261.4867.1776.909.26%256.88%28.97%
- with a debit card (m)79.00104.20147.83181.75200.85251.2710.51%206.45%25.10%
- with delayed debit cards (m)0.730.601.331.902.002.055.26%181.69%23.01%
- with a credit cards (m)16.9919.0022.3526.6126.8028.710.71%41.13%7.13%
Value of payments (€bn)6.387.3710.9613.2114.3815.668.91%146.45%19.77%
- remote payments (€bn)2.652.935.727.268.139.1112.02%338.33%34.39%
- with a debit card (€bn)4.755.728.7810.6511.7212.8910.04%192.84%23.97%
- with delayed debit cards (€bn)0.160.180.260.290.340.3918.15%96.03%14.41%
- with a credit cards (€bn)1.461.481.922.272.322.382.43%39.95%6.95%
ATV per card payment€65.92€59.54€62.89€62.53€62.39€55.54-0.21%-8.87%-1.84%
Source: ECB, CBC.

Cash withdrawals with Cypriot cards – According to CBC, the number and value of ATM transactions continued to grow up to end-2015 and declined in 2016 for the first time.

In 2024, there were 2.21 million cards with a cash function in circulation and 14.05 million cash withdrawals on cards (-7.00%) compared with 230.53 million payments on cards. The withdrawals value on cards amounted to €5.30 billion (+6.05% from 2023). The ATV per cash withdrawal on cards was €377.16, and there were 6.3 cash withdrawals per card per year.

11 - Cash Withdrawals with Cypriot Cards
202020212022202320242025FGR 23/24GR 5YCAGR 5Y
Cards with a cash function (000s)1,358.11,414.61,890.12,037.12,214.42,407.18.70%69.54%11.14%
Ø withdrawals per card per year12.712.58.47.46.35.4-14.44%-57.19%-15.61%
Ø Total cash withdrawals value per card per year€3,136.4€3,325.9€2,559.2€2,453.0€2,393.1€2,338.3-2.44%-22.37%-4.94%
Number of cash withdrawals (m)17.2517.7015.9715.1114.0513.07-7.00%-27.43%-6.21%
- thereof withdrawals domestic (m)16.5717.0015.2614.4913.5112.60-6.73%-23.65%-5.25%
- thereof withdrawals abroad (m)0.680.700.710.620.540.46-13.27%-67.71%-20.24%
Value of ATM cash withdrawals (€bn)4.264.704.845.005.305.636.05%31.61%5.65%
- thereof values domestic (€bn)3.964.384.514.715.045.407.09%42.41%7.33%
- thereof values abroad (€bn)0.300.320.330.290.260.23-10.77%-46.84%-11.87%
ATV per cash withdrawal on cards€246.92€265.80€302.92€330.76€377.16€430.6514.03%81.35%12.64%
Total cash withdrawals per capita19.319.717.516.314.413.4-11.39%-34.23%-8.04%
Total cash withdrawals value per capita€4,775.1€5,225.4€5,300.0€5,389.7€5,445.5€5,783.91.04%19.28%3.59%
Source: ECB, CBC.

Card Use per Capita

Card payments per capita in Cyprus were 236.0 in 2024 (+4.06% vs 2023), topping the former peak of 48.0, last seen in 2012. According to CBC, debit card use was on average 206.4 payments per capita (+5.28%). In addition, credit card use accounted for 27.5 payments per capita, and there were 14.4 cash withdrawals on cards per capita. The rate of growth of debit card payments is almost ten times that of credit cards.

12 - Card Payments Per Capita in Cyprus
20202021202220232024GR 23/24GR 5YCAGR 5Y
Debit card payments per capita88.6115.7162.0196.0206.45.28%244.68%28.08%
Debit card value per capita€5,328.2€6,348.6€9,619.6€11,486.6€12,042.14.84%224.87%26.57%
Delayed Debit card payments per capita0.80.71.52.02.10.29%120.77%17.16%
Delayed Debit card value per capita€179.6€199.9€286.2€310.4€349.412.57%95.51%14.35%
Credit card payments per capita19.021.124.528.727.5-4.05%29.18%5.25%
Credit card value per capita€1,639.7€1,638.4€2,103.5€2,447.9€2,388.9-2.41%28.68%5.17%
Total card payments per capita 108.4 137.5 187.9 226.8 236.0 4.06%187.34%23.50%
Total card value per capita€7,147.6€8,186.9€12,009.2€14,244.9€14,780.43.76%157.41%20.82%
Note: from 2015, delayed debit/debit cards were included in credit cards and/or debit cards, respectively.
Source: ECB, CBC.

Debit Card Use 

In 2024, there were 200.85 million debit card payments (+10.51%) with a total value of €11.72 billion (+10.04% vs 2023). According to CBC, the ATV per debit card payment was €58.34, and there were 118.3 payments per debit card per year, up 1.06% over 2023. Debit card payments have grown by a CAGR of 30.98% between 2020 and 2024.

13 - Payments with Cypriot Debit Cards
202020212022202320242025FGR 23/24GR 5YCAGR 5Y
Debit cards1,101,6481,158,6051,429,5131,552,6711,697,8031,856,5019.35%68.44%10.99%
Ø payments per debit card per year71.789.9103.4117.1118.3135.31.06%128.88%18.01%
Ø payments value per debit card per year€4,314.2€4,933.5€6,141.8€6,858.7€6,902.1€6,945.70.63%115.72%16.62%
Payments (m)79.00104.20147.83181.75200.85251.2710.51%285.51%30.98%
Value of payments (€bn)4.755.728.7810.6511.7212.8910.04%263.35%29.44%
ATV per debit card payment€60.16€54.86€59.39€58.59€58.34€51.32-0.43%-5.75%-1.18%
Source: ECB, CBC.

Delayed Debit Card Use 

In 2024, there were 2.0 million delayed debit card payments (+5.26%) with a total value of €0.34 billion (+18.15% over 2023). According to CBC, the ATV per delayed debit card payment was €170.01, and there were 91.7 payments per delayed debit card per year. Delayed debit card payments per year showed a compound annual growth rate of +5.26% between 2020 and 2024. Delayed debit cards showed a dramatic decline up until 2020 when numbers rose again, suggesting that while cardholders may have been migrated to other products, there is still demand for delayed debit products.

14 - Payments with Cypriot Delayed Debit Cards
202020212022202320242025FGR 23/24GR 5YCAGR 5Y
Delayed debit cards11,63210,00017,31219,70421,80326,03010.65%142.53%19.39%
Ø payments per delayed debit card per year62.860.076.896.491.778.9-4.87%1.81%0.36%
Ø payments value per dd card per year€13,774.07€18,000.00€15,086.07€14,605.16€15,595.10€14,945.246.78%-9.84%-2.05%
Payments (m)0.730.601.331.902.002.055.26%146.91%19.81%
Value of payments (€bn)0.160.180.260.290.340.3918.15%118.66%16.94%
ATV per delayed debit card payment€219.48€300.00€196.37€151.46€170.01€189.5212.25%-11.44%-2.40%
Note: in 2016, delayed debit cards were included in total debit cards.
Source: ECB, CBC.

Credit Card Use

Credit card payments by number and by value saw a significant decline from 2012 to 2014 due to the euro crisis. However, credit card payments recovered slightly in 2015.

In 2024, there were 26.80 million credit card payments (+0.71%) with a total value of €2.32 billion (+2.43% vs 2023). According to CBC, the ATV per credit card payment was €86.74, and there were 85.9 payments per credit card per year.

15 - Payments with Cypriot Credit Cards
202020212022202320242025FGR 22/23GR 5YCAGR 5Y
Credit cards222,386218,130272,114286,631311,963339,5348.84%16.37%3.08%
Ø payments per credit card per year76.487.182.192.885.984.6-7.46%24.15%4.42%
Ø payments value per credit card per year€6,577.0€6,762.5€7,055.2€7,917.9€7,451.8€7,013.2-5.89%23.67%4.34%
Payments (m)16.9919.0022.3526.6126.8028.710.71%44.47%7.64%
Value of payments (€bn)1.461.481.922.272.322.382.43%43.92%7.55%
ATV per credit card payment€86.09€77.64€85.90€85.29€86.74€82.941.71%-0.39%-0.08%
Source: ECB, CBC.

E-Money Use

Following the implementation of the E-Money Directive (EMD) in Cyprus, CBC changed its reporting. From 2011, prepaid cards are reported as e-money cards, and payments on prepaid cards as e-money purchases.

According to the ECB, in 2024, there were 11.46 million e-money payments, consisting of 7.96 million domestic payments and 3.50 million cross-border payments. The total e-money transaction value in Cyprus in 2024 was €6.4 billion, from €5.8 million in 2023.

16 - E-Money use in Cyprus
2019202020212022202320242025FGR 23/24
E-money cards - 342,368355,295197,059212,775212,775212,775.00.00%
Ø payments per credit card per yearNA15.817.739.844.353.965.521.60%
Ø payments value per credit card per yearNA€954.6€947.7€28,687.4€27,286.4€30,134.4€33,279.510.44%
Payments (m)4.775.426.307.859.4311.4613.9421.60%
- Domestic2.253.134.004.966.267.9610.1227.11%
- Cross-border2.522.292.302.893.163.503.8810.69%
Value of payments (€bn)0.280.330.345.655.816.417.0810.44%
ATV per credit card payment€58.12€60.30€53.44€720.60€615.94€559.40€508.05-9.18%
Source: ECB, CBC.

Leading Card Issuer Details

Bank of Cyprus (BCY) – Long dominated by BCY, which once claimed card market share of 39.0% in its 2011 annual report, the Cyprus card market has become increasingly competitive in recent years because of the entry of Greek banks and the expansion of Laiki group’s Cyprus Popular Bank. BCY was the first bank in Cyprus to issue a contactless card, the 18–25 Youth VISA payWave card. Its prepaid cards are also co-branded with local football clubs Omonoia and APOEL.

BCY issues contactless VISA and Mastercard Classic debit and credit cards, and a range of VISA co-branded cards. In mid-2018 BCY announced it would no longer issue American Express cards (see above for an explanation of American Express’ decision across the EU).

The bank issues contactless VISA cards to its current account holders, as well as VISA credit cards. Also, on offer is ‘Blue Credit Mastercard,’ which comes with a separate credit limit to pay for holidays with equal monthly instalments.

In January 2018, Bank of Cyprus launched a biometric EMV card which uses fingerprint recognition instead of a PIN code to authenticate the cardholder. When customers place their fingerprint on the embedded sensor, a comparison is performed between the scanned fingerprint and the reference biometric data securely stored in the card.

Hellenic Bank issues contactless credit cards branded Mastercard or VISA, contactless debit cards branded VISA Debit and Debit Mastercard, and prepaid cards. Recent additions include the Mastercard World Elite credit card. In 2019 the bank launched two new business cards (one debit and one credit) were launched. From 2014, Hellenic Bank issued contactless cards.

Astrobank issues both contactless VISA credit cards and VISA Debit cards.

USB Bank, absorbed by Astrobank, had issued both contactless VISA credit cards and VISA Electron cards.

Cyprus Central Bank (CCB), the Cooperative Central Bank absorbed by Hellenic Bank, had issued a range of contactless VISA branded credit cards, debit cards, and prepaid cards.

Société Générale Bank Cyprus (SGBCy), the subsidiary of the French SocGen Group, issues both contactless VISA credit cards and VISA Electron cards.

Digital & Card Payment Yearbooks