Filenews 24 January 2023
The problem that concerned thousands of Hellenic Bank customers and had been plaguing them since the New Year was solved, as they could not process contactless transactions with cards in their possession, of the American multinational financial services company Mastercard.
Hellenic Bank sources told "F" that there is no longer a problem, nor will there be a replacement of cards to give new ones, as was the original plan to deal with the problem. What was explained by Hellenic Bank is that as soon as customers make the first use of their card after solving the problem they will receive a message that the problem has been resolved and they will officially know that they will be able to use their cards normally, without the need for replacement.
For the record, the problem was created by a specific card supplier, who either had to solve the specific technical problem, or the cards had to be replaced. More specifically, a specific batch of cards issued by a supplier had a code that would allow its intact operation until December 31, 2022. For this reason, a problem was observed from 1/1/2023 in contactless transactions, either with the ATM or for payments in branches. Hellenic Bank, in order not to inconvenience its customers, thought that cards should be replaced. It is worth noting that when the problem occurred, payments with the rest of the cards were normally made with all types of transactions, be it contactless or cash withdrawals through ATMs.
Contactless transactions are part of daily transactions and as time goes by they are constantly increasing. Cyprus had the largest share of contactless payments in 2022, according to the European Central Bank's survey examining consumer payment behaviour in the Eurozone, indicating that the pandemic and contactless transaction habits have become part of everyday life. The share of contactless payments in Cyprus in 2022 amounted to 88%, followed by Slovakia and Greece, despite the trend of cash payments that exists in the Eurozone.
