Opinion on the safety of selected payment methods in Italy 2019

According to the results of a survey on the perceived safety of selected payment methods, 81 percent of Italians said that they believe prepaid cards are a secure payment method. The survey was conducted by YouGov Italia following the presentation of Libra, Facebook's cryptocurrency. Cash, bank transfers, and online payments systems, such as PayPal, Google Pay, and Apple Pay, are also considered safe. Regarding Facebook's cryptocurrency, only 20 percent of the respondents believed it to be a secure method of payment.

Payment methods in Italy

Italians like cash. Cash cannot be traced, so people feel like they can buy whatever and as much as they want. Another reason why paying in cash is very popular in Italy is that, despite that the number of POS terminals more than doubled in the last ten years, many businesses still do not provide one. When they do have a terminal, they only accept cashless payment starting from a certain amount. The increasing popularity of online shopping, however, is slowly changing minds in Italy. People are getting more and more used to pay by card, transfer money via their online banking accounts, or using mobile wallets.

Cryptocurrencies remain obscure

According to a survey conducted in 2018, seven in ten Italians have heard of cryptocurrencies. However, when asked if they own them, less than one in ten said that they own them. New financial products and services in general struggle to catch up due to the fact that Italians seem to be reluctant when it comes to innovation in the banking and financial sector. Overall, this is probably a consequence of the general low level of financial knowledge among the Italian population.