TBI Bank is entering the Greek market after obtaining approval from the Bank of Greece. It is the bank’s third main market of operations, after Romania and Bulgaria.
TBI Bank currently offers cross-border activities, without physical presence, in 5 other EU markets – Germany, Poland, Lithuania, Denmark, and Sweden.
TBI has a wide network of nearly 13.000 merchant partners online and in-store and a customer portfolio of 2 million clients.
As first steps in Greece, the bank will offer the full range of Buy Now, Pay Later products online, in-store and omnichannel, in a transparent approach.
Later in 2022, additional customer journeys will be deployed in the market like the general-purpose loans and the innovative NEON card.
Being the Buy Now, Pay Later (BNPL) market leader in Romania and Bulgaria, TBI will also transfer its know-how on the Greek market over 2022.
This solution helps merchants across all industries to sell more and customers to instantly acquire desired product or service and spread the cost of their purchase over time.
By splitting repayments in 4 or more installments, TBI’s BNPL will offer a new convenient payment solution that is currently missing on the Greek market.
These products will be accessible to Greek customers online, via TBI’s Mobile App and website, and through the Call Center.
TBI’s team in Greece will be led by Costas Tovil, an industry expert with almost 20 years of fintech and banking experience in Greece, Romania and Bulgaria.
Greece will officially open the tourist season on May 14, and tourists must prove anti Covid-19 vaccination, antibodies or take a negative test.
In addition, they will wear a mask in all public spaces.
Until then, Greece will gradually lift the restrictions, if allowed by medical estimates and the evolution of the pandemic.
Even more, all tourists can be subjected to random tests, in the same way as last year.
A significant difference from last year is the ”rapid tests”, due to which the quarantine for positive cases will be instituted immediately, without the waiting time of 24 hours in 2020.
For accommodation activities in Greece, the turnover in 2020 amounted to 2,303,658,141 euro, recording a decrease of 67.0%.
In 2019 the respective turnover was 6,991,184,282 euro.
The largest decrease in turnover in 2020 compared with 2019 was recorded in Karpathos (83.5%) and the smallest decrease (14.3%) was recorded in Florina.
For the enterprises in Food and Beverage Service Activities, the turnover in 2020 amounted to 3,773,850,833 euro.
This is a 37.7% decrease in comparison with 2019, when the respective turnover was 6,059,184,851 euro.
The largest decrease in turnover was recorded in Mykonos (73.3%) and and Santorini (71%), while the respective smallest decrease (17.3%) was recorded in Korinthia.
Fraport Greece has completed a major four-year, €440 million airport infrastructure development program at the 14 regional airports.
In January 2021, Fraport Greece concluded the last of the construction works for the 14 airports, well ahead of the April 2021 contractual deadline.
The company launched the airport development program in April 2017, in tandem with the start-up of its concession for managing eleven island and three mainland airports across Greece.
Construction works included five brand new terminals, expanded and modernized five existing terminals, and upgraded four other terminals.
Construction projects at airside operational areas of the regional airports included renovating 12 runways, improving ramp areas, and constructing and renovating 12 fire stations.
All of the airports have also been equipped with new state-of-the-art baggage handling and security detection systems.
14 Greek Regional Airports fully redeveloped and modernized
At Zakynthos, refurbishing and remodeling the terminal made it possible to increase the number of check-in counters and security checkpoints by 35% and 150%, respectively.
The terminal at Chania was completely modernized, while the number of gates increased by 25% and security checkpoints doubled.
On the Greek mainland, Kavala’s Megas Alexandros Airport received a similar refurbishment, as well as more than 1,900 square meter expansion.
Aktion Airport’s terminal had a complete overhaul and a 2,500 square meter expansion – providing extra space for twice as many security checkpoints, 14 check-in counters, and 7 departure gates.
On the island of Samos, the airport terminal was modernized and expanded by over 1,500 square meters – with plenty of room for more check-in counters, departure gates, security checkpoints, and other services.
At Skiathos Airport, the terminal has also been completely refurbished and enlarged by nearly 2,200 square meters.
Odysseas Elytis Airport in Mytilene features a new terminal with over 7,100 square meters of space.
Similarly, the new terminal at Kefalonia Anna Pollatou Airport offers some 10,700 square meter of space for passenger comfort, including more services, a 70% increase in the number of check-in counters, and twice as many security checkpoints and departure gates.
Mykonos Airport new terminal
On Mykonos, the redesigned terminal is now 50% bigger and combines traditional Cycladic architectural highlights with modern airport facilities. As a result, there is more space for check-in counters, departure gates, as well as a unique ambiance with attractive amenities.
On Rhodes, the airport has also been upgraded to offer world-class services. The terminal has a larger check-in area, plus more security checkpoints and baggage belts, a wider choice of shopping and dining.
Similarly, in the second quarter of 2020 Corfu Ioannis Kapodistrias Airport opened a new terminal with nearly 10,400 square meters of space: including 28 check-in counters, 8 security checkpoints, 12 departure gates, and .
At Kos Airport, the new passenger terminal now boasts more than 23,000 square meters of space and a new apron area.
Santorini Airport’s terminal underwent a major redevelopment resulting in a far larger facility total well over 15,000 square meters of space for an optimum passenger experience.
€100 million development for Thessaloniki Makedonia Airport
Final construction works were completed at Thessaloniki Makedonia Airport, the largest airport in Fraport Greece’s portfolio.
This €100 million development has created a new terminal complex to rival Europe’s most popular airports.
The new terminal is linked via skyway bridges to the redesigned existing terminal – thus doubling the amount of terminal space available.
More check-in space, twice as many departure gates, and a wide range of attractive restaurant and shopping facilities now shape a completely new environment at the international gateway to Greece’s second largest city.
This year, Greece wants to repay 3.3 billion euros in debt to the International Monetary Fund from five billion euros in loans to be paid by 2024, Reuters reports.
The Greek government has already repaid part of its IMF loans in advance in November 2019. The Athens authorities currently have a cash reserve of around € 32 billion.
Since 2010, Greece has received three € 280 billion international assistance packages from the Eurozone and the IMF.
Greece terminated the last assistance agreement in August 2018 and has since secured the necessary financing through loans.
Canadian company Eldorado Gold signed a revised contract with Greek authorities on Friday regarding its mining operations in northern Greece, Reuters reports.
Eldorado Gold has been in talks with the Greek government for several months over a revised investment plan that would bring higher royalties to Greece from mine development.
The revised investment contract allows the completion of construction works at the Skouries mine and the advancement of this project in the production phase, the expansion of production at the Olympias mine to 650,000 tons per year and new investments in Mavres Petres-Stratoni.
The investment plan has been revised up to $ 3.1 billion, from $ 1.4 billion, and all three mines will remain open and upgraded, so that a total of 3,070 workers will be employed, almost double compared to 1,650 today.
Also, Eldorado will come up with a new proposal to build a plant to process gold ore mined in Skouries in the next 12-24 months.
Eldorado Gold has two operating mines and two projects under development in northern Greece.
The vaccination certificate will not be a precondition for someone who wants to travel to Greece, said Greek Tourism Minister Haris Theoharis, cited by Novinite.
Theoharis explained that coronavirus tests will be performed by those who are not vaccinated, but it remains to be seen what will happen, depending on the decisions of the health authorities, who will determine whether the tests will be requested for all visitors.
He added that Prime Minister Kyriakos Mitsotakis’ proposal to the president of the European Commission was meant to shake the waters so that the EU could coordinate the vaccination issue.
On Tuesday, Mitsotakis called for the creation of an EU-wide COVID-19 vaccination certificate to help relaunch pandemic-ravaged cross-border travel.
Greek government announced that it will provide 25 million euros in funding for a tourism promotion campaign, in an attempt to attract more visitors this year.
Greece’s tourism revenues last year reached 4 billion euros, compared to 18 billion euros in 2019, due to global travel restrictions.
Greece started to receive natural gas from Azerbaijan, as the Trans Adriatic Pipeline (TAP) is ready, the director of the national natural gas company DEPA, Konstantinos Xifaras, told DPA on Thursday.
”The start of deliveries is a turning point,” said Konstantinos Xifaras.
Earlier, Bulgarian Prime Minister Boiko Borisov also announced that Bulgaria had begun receiving Azerbaijani natural gas from the Caspian Sea, an important step towards diversifying energy supplies.
The Trans Adriatic Pipeline (TAP) is the first non-Russian pipeline to supply Europe after the Medgaz connection. In 2011 began delivering gas from Algeria to Spain.
The $ 40 billion project, which stretches for 3,500 kilometers and connects the Shah Deniz II field in the Caspian Sea and Italy, passing through Georgia, Turkey, Greece, Albania and the Adriatic Sea.
With a length of 870 kilometers, the Trans Adriatic Gas Pipeline (TAP) will be the last section of this corridor and will allow the transport of natural gas from Turkey to Italy, via Greece and Albania.
Generali acquired the Greek operations of the French insurance company Axa, as part of the plan to expand its activity in Europe in the general and health insurance segment, Reuters and Bloomberg report.
The Italian insurance group will pay 165 million euros ($ 203 million) for Axa Greece and announced the extension of the distribution agreement between Axa and Alpha Bank for 20 years, after March 2027.
Axa currently sells insurance products in Greece through a long-term distribution agreement with Alpha Bank.
The transaction between Generali and Axa is expected to be completed in the second quarter of 2021, subject to regulatory approval.
In 2019, Axa Greece reported gross insurance premiums amounting to approximately 168 million euros.
Axa is the second largest European insurer, being overtaken by the German group Allianz.
The Greek government announced on Saturday a new extension, until January 10, of the restrictive measures imposed in the country for two months due to the COVID-19 pandemic.
This ends the flexibility during the end-of-year holidays, AFP reports.
Originally scheduled to end on January 7, ”restrictive measures will start on Sunday and last until January 10 for preventive reasons”.
People are only allowed to go to the doctor, to the pharmacy, for jogging and exercise. Only grocery stores and drug stores are open and employees are advised to opt for remote work.
Wearing a mask is mandatory both inside the buildings and outside and traffic is prohibited between 22:00 and 05:00.
A strict lockdown, with traffic restrictions during the night to limit the spread of the second wave of the epidemic in the country – much more virulent than the spring – was adopted on November 7, being extended for the first time in early December for another month.
Greece registered 4,881 deaths due to COVID-19 and 139,447 cases of contamination at a population of 10.7 million.
More than 4,000 deaths have been reported in the last two months.
Greece’s tourism sector is set to recover next summer said Yannis Retsos, head of the Hellenic Tourism Confederation (SETE), to Reuters.
The tourism sector in Greece, severely affected by the pandemic, is crucial for the country’s economy, given that it is responsible for about 20% of the GDP and one in five employees works in this field.
Greece’s tourism revenues stood at 4 billion euros this year, compared to 18 billion euros in 2019, due to global travel restrictions, said Yannis Retsos.
According to data recently released by the Central Bank of Greece, arrivals of foreign visitors fell by 76% in the first ten months of this year.
In 2019, Greece registered a record year with over 34 million visitors.
