Mastercard is preparing a major initiative for 2026 aimed at expanding the locations where bank customers can withdraw and deposit cash. The project is currently being developed by the company’s leadership in Greece, with plans to involve all players in the broader payments ecosystem—banks as well as electronic transaction clearing companies—once the framework is finalized.
Panagiotis Polydoros, Mastercard’s Country Manager for Greece, Cyprus, and Malta, outlined the main features of the plan. The goal is to transform any point-of-sale terminal into a cash-management touchpoint.
Customers needing cash will be able to withdraw money directly from participating merchants: their card will be charged through the store’s POS, and the merchant will hand over the requested amount.
The service will also work in reverse, allowing users to deposit cash into their bank accounts via the same POS-and-card interaction, which will relay the transaction to their bank.
Polydoros noted that similar services already operate in several European countries, including Cyprus, offering consumers more flexible access to their accounts by extending cash transactions beyond ATM networks. As for pricing, he added that the fee model has not yet been determined.
Referring to card usage in Greece, Polydoros stressed that the domestic market has now converged with the European average. The penetration of card payments in total consumer spending has risen sharply over the past decade.
As a result, the share of cash transactions has fallen from 80% to 42%, according to the latest data from the European Central Bank. This shift, he noted, has played a pivotal role in curbing tax evasion, which has dropped from 25% to 11% of GDP.
