Italy’s card business: an EU leader in volume – and growth

17 / 12 / 2025

Italy has rapidly shed its reputation as a cash-heavy economy to become one of the European Union’s most dynamic payment markets. As the EU’s third-largest economy, the country is blending traditional card dominance with a hungry appetite for digital innovation.

1 min.

Card issuing
Man paying with his card in front of his laptop

The "Double-Digit" Transformation

While card use is growing steadily across the EU, Italy is seeing "emerging market" speeds in key categories. Last year, Italians spent an average of €4,159 per capita on payment cards, reflecting an 8.8% increase since 2019.

  • Debit Dominance: Transactions have surged by 20.3% annually over the last five years, reaching 6.7 billion transactions in 2024.
  • E-commerce Surge: Card-based digital transactions are rising by 35% every year, fueling a digital economy now valued at €48 billion.
  • Contactless Maturity: Over 70% of face-to-face transactions are now contactless, supported by a massive infrastructure where 9 out of 10 terminals are NFC-enabled.

Local Champions vs. Global Trends

Italy is unique for its "local hero" fintechs that successfully compete with global giants. While PayPal leads in e-commerce, local players like Satispay are holding significant ground. Similarly, Italy is a top EU player in Instant Account-to-Account (A2A) payments, processing 8% of all SEPA Instant volumes—ranking alongside digital leaders like Sweden.

Looking Ahead: The Role of Worldline

As the landscape shifts toward Buy Now, Pay Later (BNPL)—projected to grow by 15% through 2026—and digital wallets, Worldline is positioned as a critical partner to help banks and fintechs maintain leadership by offering an end-to-end platform across the entire card value chain—from issuing and card management to processing and fraud protection. Worldline's issuing services cover prepaid, debit, credit, commercial, and virtual cards, alongside next-level fraud protection features like card tokenization, 3DS security, and full SCA compliance. Value-added services such as BNPL capabilities and a rich API catalogue, enabling rapid product deployment, are also part of the solution. 

Read the full article: https://www.paymentscardsandmobile.com/italys-card-business-an-eu-leader-in-volume-and-growth/