iris

Overview

IRIS is the official Greek instant payment and request-to-pay system, developed and operated by DIAS Interbanking Systems S.A. (ΔΙΑΣ) under the supervision of the Bank of Greece. It interconnects all major Greek banks and payment institutions, enabling real-time account-to-account (A2A) transfers between individuals, businesses, and government entities.

IRIS allows customers to make payments directly from their bank accounts using their mobile banking applications — no cards, no cash, and no intermediaries. Payments are settled instantly (typically within 2–5 seconds) and funds become immediately available to the merchant.

In accordance with Greek Law ⁵⁰¹⁶⁄₂₀₂₃ and related Bank of Greece directives, IRIS is recognized as the national instant payment system compliant with SEPA Instant Credit Transfer (SCT Inst) standards.

From 1 November 2026, all payment service providers (PSPs) and merchants offering POS payments in Greece must support IRIS as an accepted payment method. This initiative ensures uniform consumer access to instant bank payments across the country, fostering efficiency and reducing dependency on card networks.

User Experience

All merchants accepting payments in Greece must offer IRIS as a payment option both in-store and online.

Viva.com supports IRIS acceptance through:
- Viva Terminal App (Android & iOS)
- Paydroid Viva Softpos
- Viva Smart Checkout (e-commerce)

Client Journey

Point of Sale (POS)

• The cashier system triggers a payment request on the POS.
  
• The customer selects IRIS as the payment method.
  
• The terminal generates and displays a dynamic QR code.
  
• The customer opens their mobile banking app, selects IRIS / Instant Pay, and scans the QR code.
  
• The bank app prompts for customer authentication (SCA).
  
• The customer approves the transaction within their bank app.
  
• The payment is executed instantly, and the Viva terminal displays Approved, printing or exporting a receipt accordingly.
  

You may find below the UI user experience:

Smart Checkout

• The customer is redirected to Viva Smart Checkout.
  
• The customer selects IRIS as the payment method.
  
• The customer enters their email address and name.
  
• The user is redirected to the DIAS IRIS web page to select their preferred bank.
  
• The customer logs into their banking app/portal and approves the payment.
  
• Upon successful authorization, the customer is redirected to the success page. For more details, refer to the IRIS section on the Viva.com Developer Portal IRIS | Viva.com Developer Portal

Integration Protocols

Point of Sale (POS)

Viva supports the integration protocols below:
- App 2 App (Android & iOS)
- Cloud Rest API
- Local Terminal API (Peer-to-Peer)
- ECR (TCP/IP)

All the above integration protocols are fully functional and supports IRIS as payment method.

A) In each integration protocol, has been added to the sales payment request, an optional parameter, named transactionTypeId. With this parameter, specified by the cashier system, the preselected payment method on POS.

At the same time, the customer can manually choose the payment method at the terminal.

The possible values are the below:
- CardPresent
- MOTO
- QrDefault
- QrPayconic
- AliPay
- Paypal
- Klarna
- IRIS

B) After the transaction is completed, the cashier system can retrieve the final payment method using the transactionTypeId value.

You may find all the list possible values here

Smart Checkout

For e-commerce transactions, the IRIS payment method can be identified through the transactionTypeId parameter provided by:
1. Webhooks - Event: Transaction Payment Created | Viva.com Developer Portal.
2. Get Transaction Details API.

Frequently Asked Questions

IRIS Payment Method Integration

1) I am already integrated with Viva. What should I do to start accepting payments through IRIS?

IRIS is an additional payment method, similar to existing card payments, and will automatically be available on Viva POS terminals starting 1st November.

Viva has enhanced its integration protocols to include the option of specifying IRIS as a pre-selected payment method, or leaving it as an optional selection by the customer.

2) Should IRIS be set as the pre-selected payment method for every transaction?

No. It is not mandatory for IRIS to be preselected; however, it is mandatory to offer IRIS as an available payment method in every sales request.

3) I am not sure if IRIS is activated on my merchant account.

Since IRIS was introduced as an optional payment method, we strongly recommend that you contact us to confirm whether it is already active on your account.

If not, please request its activation to ensure you can start accepting IRIS payments.

4) Do I need to declare my IBAN to AADE to get IRIS payments?

Yes. To receive payments through IRIS, you must declare the IBAN linked to your IRIS activation with AADE (the Independent Authority for Public Revenue).

5) I am unsure whether I should set IRIS as the preselected payment method, and how to do so.

As mentioned, setting IRIS as preselected is optional, but offering it as a payment method in every sales request is mandatory.

The main difference between having IRIS preselected or not lies in the payment flow:
- If IRIS is preselected, the cashier must first confirm with the customer that they wish to pay via IRIS before initiating the transaction.
- If IRIS is not preselected, the customer will need to interact with the POS terminal to manually select IRIS as their preferred payment method.

In both scenarios, the user may change the payment method directly on the terminal at any time.

6) I want IRIS to be set as the pre-selected payment method. What will the process look like?

The process flow is as follows:
1) The cashier asks the customer for their preferred payment method.
2) The customer chooses to pay using IRIS.
3) The cashier selects IRIS as the payment method in the ERP system.
4) A sales request is triggered with paymentMethod = IRIS.
5) The payment is routed to the terminal, where the IRIS QR code is displayed for the customer to complete the transaction.

7) IRIS is already activated in my e-shop/e-commerce channel. Should I request the POS too?

No, IRIS as each payment method is activated on merchant level. So, it is not required in this case to request again its activation, as it is already.