Source: cyprus-mail.com
Cyprus is preparing a new interbank payment service that would allow customers to send money using only the recipient’s mobile phone number, with its introduction currently being considered for the first quarter of 2027.
Plans are expected to enter a more detailed stage in early September, when JCC Payments holds its first substantive meeting with members of the Association of Cyprus Banks (ACB).
The meeting will examine the technical and procedural requirements for a Cypriot service modelled on Greece’s IRIS system. The project is expected to be developed by JCC in cooperation with Greek interbank payments operator DIAS.
In practical terms, customers of participating banks would no longer have to enter or exchange an IBAN when making an eligible transfer. Instead, they would select or type the recipient’s mobile number through their banking application.
However, the IBAN would not disappear from the transaction altogether. The mobile number would act as a proxy linked to the recipient’s bank account, allowing the system to retrieve the necessary account details behind the scenes. This is how mobile proxy services are described in ECB documentation.
Once the payment is authorised, the money would reach the beneficiary’s account within a few seconds, with both parties receiving confirmation that the transfer has been completed.
The difference would be most noticeable in small, everyday payments, such as splitting a restaurant bill, repaying a friend, returning money to a relative or settling another personal obligation. Users would no longer need to ask for a long account number, copy it correctly and check it before proceeding.
The September discussions are expected to focus heavily on security, verification and transaction limits. JCC and the banks will have to decide how a mobile number is registered and matched to an account, how the recipient’s identity is displayed and what checks are completed before the sender confirms the payment.
They must also determine the maximum amount that can be transferred in this way, along with any daily or monthly limits. Procedures for handling incorrect payments, suspicious transactions, fraud attempts and the misuse of registered mobile numbers will also need to be agreed.
Other questions include whether all participating banks will introduce the service at the same time, how it will be incorporated into their existing applications and whether the same conditions will apply across the banking system.
As a result, the first-quarter 2027 launch remains a target rather than a confirmed date. The timetable will depend on the technical specifications agreed with the banks and the work needed to connect their systems.
DIAS already operates IRIS in Greece and manages the infrastructure through which domestic and cross-border interbank payments are cleared and settled. It also supports the Greek and Cypriot banking systems, according to the company’s official information.
Its involvement could also give Cyprus a route towards mobile-number payments with Greece and other European countries, although such cross-border access has not yet been confirmed as part of the Cypriot service’s initial launch.
Greece connected IRIS to the European Payments Alliance (EuroPA) on June 30, allowing users of participating providers to send money to users of equivalent services in Spain, Portugal, Italy and Andorra using a mobile number rather than entering an IBAN.
The first stage covers person-to-person transfers and initially connects 57.3 million people across the five countries. According to DIAS’s announcement, the service uses strong customer authentication and the SEPA Instant Credit Transfer framework to complete transactions within seconds.
EuroPA connects existing national account-to-account services, including IRIS in Greece, Bizum in Spain, MB WAY in Portugal and BANCOMAT Pay in Italy. Users continue to access their own country’s service, while the systems communicate with one another in the background.
For Cyprus, the immediate aim is to establish the domestic service and secure broad participation among banks and customers. If it is built to support European interoperability, however, a later connection could allow someone in Cyprus to send money to Greece or another participating country using only the recipient’s mobile number.
The early September meeting will therefore be central to deciding how the Cypriot service will work, which safeguards it will carry and whether it can be ready during the first three months of 2027.