Italy’s Real-Time Payments Adoption Shows Promise Despite Slow Growth

As digital payments and the need for faster and more efficient financial transactions grow in popularity, countries and regions around the world are accelerating the adoption of real-time payment systems.

In Europe, for example, real-time payments have seen historic growth in recent years, with European Union countries developing schemes to ensure quick and seamless cross-border payments across the region, according to The Real-Time Payments World Map, a PYMNTS study which examines the state of real-time payments across countries around the globe.

The latest report from that series, published in collaboration with The Clearing House, spotlights Italy, whose real-time payments journey began in 2017 when it adopted the early stage of the SEPA Instant Credit Transfer (SCT Inst) scheme. The pan-European initiative is aimed at facilitating ultra-fast euro payments, enabling individuals and businesses to make instant payments of up to €15,000 ($16,542) across the 36 countries within the Single European Payment Area (SEPA).

But although Italy had a head start compared to other European counterparts that adopted the SCT Inst system later on, the country’s population has been relatively slow to adopt real-time payments en masse and has a long way to go before real-time becomes an everyday means of payment, per the PYMNTS study.

That could soon change, however, as the country is expected to see growth in the real-time payments sector in the coming years. Per the study, average daily volume in Italy is projected to increase from 364 million in 2021 to hit 787 million in 2026, growing at a compound annual growth rate (CAGR) of 16.7% between that period.

Italy also has one of the highest number of banks and payment service providers (PSPs) in offering the SCT Inst service in Europe, a strong indication of banks’ interest to drive real-time payment adoption in the country.

In fact, according to the latest Register of Scheme Participants from the European Payments Council (EPC), Italy has close to 400 participating financial institutions (FIs) and PSPs in SEPA Instant as of March this year, the third-highest in Europe behind Germany (1,300) and Austria (433), and ahead of France (300-plus).

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