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Financial services in Arta are governed by Greek national law and directly applicable European Union rules. The same framework applies across Greece, but local market conditions, the location of your business, and the courts you may need to use make local knowledge valuable. The Bank of Greece supervises banks, payment institutions, electronic money institutions, insurers, and several non-bank financial firms. The Hellenic Capital Market Commission oversees investment services, public offerings, market abuse, fund managers, and crowdfunding providers. Many key rules stem from EU legislation such as MiFID II for investment services, PSD2 for payment services, the Anti-Money Laundering regime, UCITS and AIFMD for funds, Solvency II for insurance, and the Prospectus and Market Abuse regulations. As of 2024-2025, the EU Markets in Crypto-Assets Regulation is being phased in, introducing an EU-wide authorization regime for crypto-asset service providers.
In Arta, individuals and businesses interact with this national framework through local business registries, accountants, and courts. Licensing, supervision, and enforcement are carried out centrally, but practical matters like corporate filings with the General Commercial Registry, consumer complaints, and court actions are often handled locally. Whether you are a bank branch, a fintech start-up, an investment intermediary, or a consumer of financial products, understanding how the national rules apply in Arta can help you avoid delays, fines, and disputes.
You may need a lawyer to determine whether your business requires authorization and to select the correct license category. Even a seemingly simple activity such as investment advice, payment initiation, or crypto custody can be regulated. Early legal scoping prevents inadvertent unauthorized activity.
Firms often engage counsel to prepare license applications, business plans, governance and internal control frameworks, and fit and proper documentation for directors and key function holders. Regulators expect robust policies on risk management, compliance, internal audit, and outsourcing. A lawyer coordinates these deliverables and manages regulator communications.
Ongoing compliance support is common. Lawyers help with product governance and disclosures, client onboarding and know-your-customer checks, anti-money laundering programs, data protection in financial services, marketing and financial promotions, and cross-border passporting into or out of Greece.
When issues arise, legal advice is crucial for regulatory inspections, remediation plans, and enforcement cases involving administrative fines or potential license restrictions. Consumers and investors also seek lawyers for mis-selling claims, unfair contract terms, charges and interest disputes, or failed investment recoveries.
In Arta specifically, you may need local representation for court proceedings, urgent injunctions, debt enforcement, collateral realization, and to coordinate with local accountants, notaries, and the Chamber of Commerce for corporate and registry matters.
Supervisory structure. The Bank of Greece is the competent authority for credit institutions, payment and electronic money institutions, insurance and reinsurance firms, and several non-bank activities such as leasing and factoring. The Hellenic Capital Market Commission is the competent authority for investment firms, investment services, fund managers and funds, public offerings and prospectuses, market abuse, crowdfunding service providers, and market infrastructure.
Licensing and passporting. Many financial services require authorization before starting business in Greece. EU-licensed firms may provide services in Greece through passporting on a freedom-to-provide-services basis or via a branch after the required notifications. Even when passporting, firms must follow Greek conduct and consumer rules that apply locally.
Payments and e-money. Payment services and e-money issuance are subject to PSD2-based rules, including safeguarding of client funds, open banking interfaces, strong customer authentication, and incident reporting. The Bank of Greece maintains registers of authorized institutions and agents.
Investment services. MiFID II rules apply to investment advice, portfolio management, reception and transmission of orders, execution, and dealing on own account. This includes client categorization, suitability and appropriateness tests, best execution, inducements, product governance, and robust organizational requirements. Prospectus and ongoing disclosure obligations apply to public offerings and listings, supervised by the Hellenic Capital Market Commission.
Funds and asset management. UCITS and AIFMD frameworks govern fund authorization, management company licensing, depositaries, risk and liquidity management, valuation, and investor disclosures. Marketing into Greece is regulated and often requires prior notifications or approvals.
Crypto assets. The EU Markets in Crypto-Assets Regulation introduces authorization and conduct rules for crypto-asset service providers, including prudential, governance, custody, and disclosure obligations. Transitional arrangements may apply, and existing national registration under the anti-money laundering regime is being superseded. Firms should confirm the designated competent authority and transitional timelines before operating.
Anti-money laundering. Greek law requires risk-based customer due diligence, ongoing monitoring, beneficial ownership identification, screening, record-keeping, internal controls, and suspicious transaction reporting to the national Financial Intelligence Unit. Firms must maintain a written risk assessment and train staff. Beneficial ownership information must be filed with the national register and kept up to date.
Consumer protection and financial promotions. Marketing must be fair, clear, and not misleading. Retail disclosures should be in clear Greek language. Distance marketing and e-commerce rules apply to online channels. Unfair contract terms are prohibited. For securities offerings to the public, the prospectus regime applies and requires approval by the Hellenic Capital Market Commission unless an exemption is available.
Data protection. Financial firms must comply with the EU General Data Protection Regulation and Greek implementing law, including lawful processing, transparency, data minimization, retention limits, security measures, data subject rights, data protection impact assessments for high-risk processing, and breach notifications.
Outsourcing and cloud. Regulated firms must manage outsourcing risk, retain responsibility for outsourced functions, and align with European supervisory guidelines on outsourcing and ICT risk. Material outsourcing requires careful contractual protections and oversight.
Client assets and compensation. Client funds and instruments must be segregated. The Hellenic Deposit and Investment Guarantee Fund provides deposit protection up to 100,000 euros per depositor per bank and an investor compensation scheme that generally covers eligible investment clients up to 30,000 euros per firm, subject to conditions.
Dispute resolution. Customers should first use the firm’s internal complaints process. If unresolved, they can escalate to the Hellenic Financial Ombudsman or the relevant supervisor. Civil claims can be brought in the local courts serving Arta. Administrative acts by supervisors are challenged before the administrative courts. Deadlines are strict, and early legal advice is important.
Yes, investment advice to clients in Greece is a regulated MiFID II service. You must be authorized as an investment firm or act as a tied agent under the responsibility of an authorized investment firm. Limited exemptions exist but are narrow and should be assessed carefully before you market or provide advice.
In most cases yes. If you are authorized in another EU or EEA state, you can passport payment, e-money, or investment services into Greece on a services basis or through a branch after notification by your home supervisor. You must comply with Greek consumer rules and some local conduct or language requirements. Marketing and use of local agents can trigger additional notifications.
The Bank of Greece is the competent authority for payment institutions and electronic money institutions. It oversees licensing, safeguarding, strong customer authentication, incident reporting, and agent or distributor registrations.
The EU Markets in Crypto-Assets Regulation is being phased in across the EU. Crypto-asset service providers will need authorization and must meet prudential, conduct, and custody rules. Previously, Greece required anti-money laundering registration for such providers. Transitional arrangements may apply, so you should confirm current Greek implementation and the competent authority before operating or marketing services.
All obliged entities must conduct risk assessments, identify and verify customers and beneficial owners, apply ongoing monitoring and screening, keep records, train staff, appoint a compliance officer where required, and report suspicious activity to the national Financial Intelligence Unit. Simplified or enhanced due diligence may apply depending on risk.
Communications must be fair, clear, and not misleading, and they must be consistent with the services you are authorized to provide. Retail disclosures should be in Greek, and key risks and costs must be highlighted. Prospectus approval is needed for public offers of transferable securities unless an exemption applies. Social media and influencers are treated as advertising and must comply with the same rules.
Regulated firms must segregate client assets, keep accurate records, and have safeguarding arrangements. Deposit accounts are protected by the Hellenic Deposit and Investment Guarantee Fund up to 100,000 euros per depositor per bank. Eligible clients of investment firms may be compensated up to 30,000 euros if the firm fails financially, subject to scheme rules and exclusions.
Request the final written response to your complaint, gather all statements and correspondence, and escalate to the Hellenic Financial Ombudsman for mediation. You may also notify the relevant supervisor and consider legal action in the courts serving Arta. Deadlines for court filings and regulatory appeals can be short, so seek legal advice promptly.
Penalties range from remediation orders and administrative fines to suspension or withdrawal of authorization. Serious breaches such as anti-money laundering violations can involve criminal liability. Managers and board members may face fit and proper consequences affecting their ability to hold regulated roles.
Timelines vary with the type of license, complexity of your business model, and completeness of your documentation. Expect several months for thorough review, including potential follow-up questions. You will need capital, governance arrangements, key function holders, audited financials or projections, policies and procedures, and outsourcing agreements where relevant.
Bank of Greece. Central bank and supervisor for banks, payment and electronic money institutions, insurers, and several non-bank financial activities. Provides registers of authorized firms and consumer information.
Hellenic Capital Market Commission. Securities and markets supervisor responsible for investment firms, public offerings, market abuse, funds and managers, and crowdfunding providers.
Hellenic Financial Ombudsman. Independent body that mediates disputes between consumers or small businesses and banks, payment institutions, electronic money institutions, and investment firms.
Hellenic Deposit and Investment Guarantee Fund. Provides deposit guarantee and investor compensation schemes operating in Greece.
General Secretariat of Commerce and Consumer Protection. Government body for consumer rights, unfair commercial practices, and alternative dispute resolution policy.
Arta Chamber of Commerce and Industry and the General Commercial Registry. Local support for business registrations, corporate filings, and beneficial ownership submissions.
Hellenic Anti-Money Laundering Authority. National Financial Intelligence Unit for suspicious transaction reporting and AML supervision coordination.
European bodies and guidance. Single Supervisory Mechanism of the European Central Bank for significant banks, the European Banking Authority, the European Securities and Markets Authority, and the European Insurance and Occupational Pensions Authority issue guidelines and technical standards applied in Greece.
Clarify your activities and target clients to determine if your services are regulated. Map each activity to the relevant legal regime such as investment services, payment services, e-money, insurance distribution, funds management, or crypto-asset services.
Check authorization status. Verify whether you or your counterparties are authorized or passported to operate in Greece. Use official public registers and keep evidence of your checks.
Prepare core documents. Assemble corporate documents, ownership charts, governance and internal control frameworks, business plan and financial projections, outsourcing and cloud contracts, AML and data protection policies, and customer facing disclosures in Greek.
Engage counsel early. A lawyer with financial regulatory experience in Greece can scope licensing needs, manage applications, advise on consumer and marketing rules, and set up compliance programs aligned with supervisory expectations.
Plan timelines and budgets. Build a realistic project plan for licensing and launch, including regulator review time, bank account opening, hiring key function holders, IT readiness, and translation of documents.
Set up complaints and incident handling. Establish internal complaints procedures, incident response for operational and security events, and contacts for escalation to the Hellenic Financial Ombudsman and the relevant supervisors.
If you face an investigation or dispute, act quickly. Preserve documents and communications, stop any potentially non-compliant activity, notify stakeholders as required, and obtain legal advice on strategy and deadlines for responses or appeals in the appropriate Arta or administrative courts.
Keep monitoring change. EU and Greek rules evolve frequently, including developments under the crypto-asset regime, payments reforms, outsourcing and ICT risk guidelines, and consumer protection updates. Schedule periodic compliance reviews to remain aligned.
