Italy Cards and Payments: Opportunities and Risks to 2029

Powered by

All the vital news, analysis, and commentary curated by our industry experts.

GlobalData’s ‘Italy Cards and Payments: Opportunities and Risks to 2029' report provides detailed analysis of market trends in the Italian cards and payments industry. It provides values and volumes for a number of key performance indicators in the industry, including cash, card, credit transfer, direct debits, and cheques during the review-period (2021–25e).

The report also analyzes various payment card markets operating in the industry and provides detailed information on the number of cards in circulation, transaction values and volumes during the review-period and over the forecast-period (2025e–29f). It also offers information on the country's competitive landscape, including market shares of issuers and schemes.

The report brings together GlobalData’s research, modeling, and analysis expertise to allow banks and card issuers to identify segment dynamics and competitive advantages. The report also covers detailed regulatory policies and recent changes in regulatory structure.

GlobalData’s ‘Italy Cards and Payments: Opportunities and Risks to 2029' report provides top-level market analysis, information and insights into the Italian cards and payments industry, including –
• Current and forecast values for each market in the Italian cards and payments industry, including debit, credit and charge cards.
• Detailed insights into payment instruments including cash, card, credit transfer, direct debits, and cheques. It also, includes an overview of the country's key alternative payment instruments.
• Ecommerce market analysis.
• Analysis of various market drivers and regulations governing the Italian cards and payments industry.
• Detailed analysis of strategies adopted by banks and other institutions to market debit, credit and charge cards.
• Comprehensive analysis of consumer attitudes and buying preferences for cards.
• The competitive landscape of the Italian cards and payments industry.

Scope

Card market size in terms of number of cards, value and volume of transactions in Italy along with detailed card segmentation of debit, credit and charge cards available in the country.

Market sizing and analysis of major payment instruments including cash, card, credit transfer, direct debits, and cheques.

Payment market trends and growth for both historical and forecast period

Competitor analysis with detailed insights into leading card issuers and schemes.

Comprehensive analysis of consumer attitudes and buying preferences for cards.

A detailed snapshot of country's key alternative payment brands.

Key Highlights

Contactless payments are increasingly being used for public transport. For instance, in July 2025, the provider of mobility services and solutions Conduent Transportation launched a contactless payment system for Gestione Governativa Navigazione Laghi; a government agency operating boats on Lakes Maggiore, Garda, and Como in Italy. This system allows passengers to make tap-to-pay payments using contactless cards and digital wallets. On similar note, in May 2024, Rome’s transportation system launched contactless payment services for JCB card holders on its public transportation system. This service offers open-loop transit through partnership between Nexi and JCB. This enables commuters in Rome to make contactless card transactions.

Nexi is the leading acquirer in Italy. It offers a range of POS terminals, including SmartPOS, SmartPOS – Mini, Mini with printer, and Cashier+ physical POS terminals, as well as SoftPOS, mobile POS, and Cordless POS + mobile POS terminals. To strengthen its presence, in July 2025, Nexi renewed its agreement with Credit Agricole Italia until 2029. This partnership allows Credit Agricole customers to make payments at Nexi POS terminals. As of July 2025, Nexi had over 100,000 POS terminals in Italy. On similar note, in June 2025, Banca Agricola Popolare di Sicilia ScpA (BAPS) partnered with Nexi to offer payment services to BAPS customers.

The Italian Government is prioritizing financial literacy. The International Survey of Adult Financial Literacy, conducted by the Organization for Economic Co-operation and Development (OECD), indicates that Italy's financial literacy rate is comparatively low among European countries in 2024. To tackle this issue, the Central Bank of Italy, Banca d'Italia, initiated the Financial Education in Schools program in October 2024 which targets students aged from 17 to 19. The objective of the initiative is to promote responsible financial behavior and enhance financial literacy, especially among the youth. These endeavors are expected to boost the number of individuals with bank accounts.

Reasons to Buy

Make strategic business decisions, using top-level historic and forecast market data, related to the Italian cards and payments industry and each market within it.

Understand the key market trends and growth opportunities in the Italian cards and payments industry.

Assess the competitive dynamics in the Italian cards and payments industry.

Gain insights into marketing strategies used for various card types in Italy.

Gain insights into key regulations governing the Italian cards and payments industry.

Intesa Sanpaolo
UniCredit Bank
UBI Banca
Banca Carige
Banca Sella
Credito Emiliano
ING Bank
Banca Mediolanum
Banca di credito cooperativo di Roma
Banca Monte dei Paschi di Siena
BPER Banca
Banco BPM
BNP Paribas
Poste Italiane
Visa
Mastercard
American Express
Diners Club
Bancomat

Table of Contents

Table of Contents

1. Executive Summary

2. Market Overview

3. Payment Instruments

4. Card-Based Payments

5. Card Payments Acquiring

6. Ecommerce Payments

7. In-Store Payments

8. Buy Now Pay Later

9. Digital Wallet Payments

10. P2P Payments

11. Bill Payments

12. Alternative Payments

13. Payment Innovations

14. Job Analysis

15. Payment Infrastructure and Regulation

16. Appendix

Table

Key facts, 2025

Benchmarking of payment cards, 2025

Payment instrument transaction values (LCU), 2021–29f

Payment instrument transaction values ($), 2021–29f

Payment instrument transaction volumes (units), 2021–29f

Payment cards in circulation by type (units), 2021–29f

Volume of payment card transactions (units), 2021–29f

Value of payment card transactions (LCU),2021–29f

Value of payment card transactions ($), 2021–29f

Debit cards in circulation (units), 2021–29f

Debit card transaction volumes, 2021–29f

Debit card transaction values (LCU), 2021–29f

Debit card transaction values ($),2021–29f

Debit cards in circulation by scheme (units), 2021–25e

Debit card transaction values by scheme (LCU), 2021–25e

Debit card transaction values by scheme ($), 2021–25e

Debit cards in circulation by issuer (units), 2021–25e

Debit cards transaction value by issuer (LCU), 2021–25e

Debit cards transaction value by issuer ($), 2021–25e

Credit cards in circulation (units), 2021–29f

Credit card transaction volumes, 2021–29f

Credit card transaction values (LCU), 2021–29f

Credit card transaction values ($), 2021–29f

Credit cards in circulation by scheme (units), 2021–25e

Credit card transaction values by scheme (LCU), 2021–25e

Credit card transaction values by scheme ($), 2021–25e

Credit cards in circulation by issuer (units), 2021–25e

Credit cards transaction value by issuer (LCU), 2021–25e

Credit cards transaction value by issuer ($), 2021–25e

Merchant acquiring transaction volumes (units),2021–29f

Merchant acquiring transaction values (LCU),2021–29f

Merchant acquiring transaction values ($), 2021–29f

Acquirers’ transaction volumes (units), 2021–25e

Acquirers’ transaction values (LCU), 2021–25e

Acquirers’ transaction values ($), 2021–25e

Retail outlets and card-accepting merchants (units), 2021–29f

Debit card average interchange fees (%), 2021–25e

Credit and charge card average interchange fees (%), 2021–25e

Debit card merchant service charge and interchange fee (%), 2021–29fs

Credit and charge card merchant service charge and interchange fee (%), 2021–29f

Retail market by product categories (LCU), 2021–29f

Retail market by product categories ($), 2021–29f

Retail market by service categories (LCU), 2018–22

Retail market by service categories ($), 2018–22

Figures

Inflation rate

GDP growth rate

Payment instruments transaction value and volume

Instant payments transaction value and volume

Card penetration

Card payments by value

Debit card frequency of payments and average transaction value

Debit card schemes transaction value and volume

Debit card issuers by number of cards and transaction value

Credit card frequency of payments and average transaction value

Credit card schemes transaction value and volume

Credit card issuers by number of cards and transaction value

Credit card debt

Prepaid Cards: Market Sizing and Forecasting

Contactless card holding and usage in detail

E-commerce transaction value and ecommerce breakdown by mobile vs. desktop/laptop

Ecommerce market by product and services

Ecommerce market by paymnet tools

Factors driving in-store payments and In-store transaction value by payment method

In-store transaction value by products and services

BNPL service used in the last six months and Preferred BNPL brand/tool for in-store payments

BNPL online transaction value and transaction volume

BNPL share of overall ecommerce transaction value and preferred BNPL brand/tool for online payments

Mobile wallet holding and use by demographic

Mobile wallet funding methods, mobile wallet preference by product/service and mobile wallet ownership by brand

Domestic and international P2P money transfers

Paymnet tool preference for bill payment and bill paymnet frequency

Active jobs intensity in the country

Number of POS terminals and ATMs

Italy Cards and Payments: Opportunities and Risks to 2029 standard reports
Currency USD
$2,750

Can be used by individual purchaser only

$8,250

Can be shared globally by unlimited users within the purchasing corporation e.g. all employees of a single company


Undecided about purchasing this report?

Enquire Before Buying Download FREE Resources

Get in touch to find out about multi-purchase discounts

reportstore@globaldata.com
Tel +44 20 7947 2745

Sample Report

Italy Cards and Payments: Opportunities and Risks to 2029 was curated by the best experts in the industry and we are confident about its unique quality. However, we want you to make the most beneficial decision for your business, so we offer free sample pages to help you:

  • Assess the relevance of the report
  • Evaluate the quality of the report
  • Justify the cost

Download your copy of the sample report and make an informed decision about whether the full report will provide you with the insights and information you need.

Below is a sample report to understand what you are buying

See what our customers are saying
testimonial-image
testimonial-image
testimonial-image
testimonial-image
testimonial-image
testimonial-image
testimonial-image

“The GlobalData platform is our go-to tool for intelligence services. GlobalData provides an easy way to access comprehensive intelligence data around multiple sectors, which essentially makes it a one-for-all intelligence platform, for tendering and approaching customers.

GlobalData is very customer orientated, with a high degree of personalised services, which benefits everyday use. The highly detailed project intelligence and forecast reports can be utilised across multiple departments and workflow scopes, from operational to strategic level, and often support strategic decisions. GlobalData Analytics and visualisation solutions has contributed positively when preparing management presentations and strategic papers.”

Business Intelligence & Marketing Manager, SAL Heavy Lift

“COVID-19 has caused significant interference to our business and the COVID-19 intelligence from GlobalData has helped us reach better decisions around strategy. These two highlights have helped enormously to understand the projections into the future concerning our business units, we also utilise the project database to source new projects for Liebherr-Werk to use as an additional source to pitch for new business.”

Market Analyst & Management, Liebherr-Werk

Your daily news has saved me a lot of time and keeps me up-to-date with what is happening in the market, I like that you almost always have a link to the source origin. We also use your market data in our Strategic Business Process to support our business decisions. By having everything in one place on the Intelligence Center it has saved me a lot of time versus looking on different sources, the alert function also helps with this.

Head of Key Accounts, Saab AB

Having used several other market research companies, I find that GlobalData manages to provide that ‘difficult-to-get’ market data that others can’t, as well as very diverse and complete consumer surveys.

Marketing Intelligence Manager, Portugal Foods

Our experience with GlobalData has been very good, from the platform itself to the people. I find that the analysts and the account team have a high level of customer focus and responsiveness and therefore I can always rely on. The platform is more holistic than other providers. It is convenient and almost like a one stop shop. The pricing suite is highly competitive and value for our organisation.

I like reports that inform new segments such as the analysis on generation Z, millennials, the impact of COVID 19 to our banking customers and their new channel habits. Secondly the specialist insight on affluent sector significantly increases our understanding about this group of customers. The combination of those give us depth and breadth of the evolving market.

I’m in the business of answering and helping people make decisions so with the intelligence center I can do that, effectively and efficiently. I can share quickly key insights that answer and satisfy our country stakeholders by giving them many quality studies and primary research about competitive landscape beyond the outlook of our bank. It helps me be seen as an advisory partner and that makes a big difference. A big benefit of our subscription is that no one holds the whole data and because it allows so many people, so many different parts of our organisation have access, it enables all teams to have the same level of knowledge and decision support.

Head of Customer Insight and Research, Standard Chartered

“I know that I can always rely on Globaldata’s work when I’m searching for the right consumer and market insights. I use Globaldata insights to understand the changing market & consumer landscape and help create better taste & wellbeing solutions for our customers in food, beverage and healthcare industries.

Globaldata has the right data and the reports are of very high quality compared to your competitors. Globaldata not only has overall market sizes & consumer insights on food & beverages but also provides insights at the ingredient & flavour level. That is key for B2B companies like Givaudan. This way we understand our customers’ business and also gain insight to our unique industry”

Head of Consumer Sensory Insights, Givaudan

GlobalData provides a great range of information and reports on various sectors that is highly relevant, timely, easy to access and utilise.  The reports and data dashboards help engagement with clients; they provide valuable industry and market insights that can enrich client conversations and can help in the shaping of value propositions. Moreover, using GlobalData products has helped increase my knowledge of the finance sector, the players within it, and the general threats and opportunities.

I find the consumer surveys that are carried out to be extremely beneficial and not something I have seen anywhere else. They provided an insightful view of why and which consumers take (or don’t) particular financial products. This can help shape conversations with clients to ensure they make the right strategic decisions for their business.

One of the challenges I have found is that data in the payments space is often piecemeal. With GD all of the data I need is in one place, but it also comes with additional market reports that provide useful extra context and information. Having the ability to set-up alerts on relevant movements in the industry, be it competitors or customers, and have them emailed directly to me, ensures I get early sight of industry activity and don’t have to search for news.

Senior Account Manager, TSYS

Related reports

View more Payments reports
Financial Services
New
Targeting Generation X in Financial Services 2026
$3,450 | July 2026
Financial Services
New
UBS Global Wealth Management: Competitor Profile
$1,295 | July 2026
Financial Services
New
Chile Cards and Payments: Opportunities and Risks to 2030
$2,750 | July 2026
Go even deeper with GlobalData Intelligence Center

Every Company Report we produce is powered by the GlobalData Intelligence Center.

Subscribing to our intelligence platform means you can monitor developments at Italy Cards and Payments: Opportunities and Risks to 2029 in real time.

  • Access a live Italy Cards and Payments: Opportunities and Risks to 2029 dashboard for 12 months, with up-to-the-minute insights.
  • Fuel your decision making with real-time deal coverage and media activity.
  • Turn insights on financials, deals, products and pipelines into powerful agents of commercial advantage.