The road to becoming a cashless nation, as per the (discussed) government plan, is still long. The progress, however, is evident: despite consumption in 2020 dropped by more than 13%, in Italy digital payments - made by card, smartphone or directly online - went from 29 to 33% of total transactions, for an overall value of 268 billion euros. A study by the Innovative Payments Observatory of the Politecnico di Milano shows the great leap in contactless payments (+ 29% compared to 2019) and especially those made with smartphones and smartwatches (+ 80%).
However, Italy remains one of the European nations most linked to cash, but the scenario is rapidly evolving: "Surely the pandemic has helped to change the situation, even in our country", explained Rita Camporeale at the Fintech Summit in Milan. , responsible for the payment systems of ABI (Italian banking association). "In short, we are gradually changing habits, abandoning tools such as checks and making the use of cards more and more normal".
The role of the pandemic is twofold: "It is not just the increase in e-commerce (which grew by 26% in 2020, ed) following the lockdowns, but also the widespread fear of payments that require physical exchanges, as in the case of of cash ”, continues Camporeale. "The increase in contactless transactions, even for small amounts, seems to continue even now that the pandemic has eased. It is happening all over Europe and it is an acceleration also confirmed by the polls, which show that people are willing to use cash less and less "
The road to becoming a cashless nation, as per the (discussed) government plan, is still long. The progress, however, is evident: despite consumption in 2020 dropped by more than 13%, in Italy digital payments - made by card, smartphone or directly online - went from 29 to 33% of total transactions, for an overall value of 268 billion euros. A study by the Innovative Payments Observatory of the Politecnico di Milano shows the great leap in contactless payments (+ 29% compared to 2019) and especially those made with smartphones and smartwatches (+ 80%).
However, Italy remains one of the European nations most linked to cash, but the scenario is rapidly evolving: "Surely the pandemic has helped to change the situation, even in our country", explained Rita Camporeale at the Fintech Summit in Milan. , responsible for the payment systems of ABI (Italian banking association). "In short, we are gradually changing habits, abandoning tools such as checks and making the use of cards more and more normal".
The role of the pandemic is twofold: "It is not just the increase in e-commerce (which grew by 26% in 2020, ed) following the lockdowns, but also the widespread fear of payments that require physical exchanges, as in the case of of cash ”, continues Camporeale. "The increase in contactless transactions, even for small amounts, seems to continue even now that the pandemic has eased. It is happening all over Europe and it is an acceleration also confirmed by the polls, which indicate that people are willing to use cash less and less ".
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However, the European landscape remains very varied: some nations have now abandoned coins and banknotes, such as Iceland (8% of cash transactions) or Norway (11%), while others remain firmly linked to cash, such as Greece (75.2 %) or Slovakia (72.4%). Italy is located in the lower part of the European Union, with a percentage of cash payments that is - with some differences depending on the studies - around 60%, in the company of a nation in this (strangely) traditionalist aspect such as Germany (62.8%) is instead very far from France (only 25% of cash payments).
To understand what form this new digital infrastructure will take, all that remains is to observe what is happening in China, another nation that has forged ahead and where already today, in large cities, 90% of transactions are carried out with smartphones: "During the next Olympics, China should officially announce its state digital currency, giving further impetus to other nations and institutions, which will have to upgrade their infrastructure, "Shin explained, referring to the electronic yuan already being tested in cities like Shenzhen, which should use a blockchain (but not decentralized, unlike that used for bitcoins) and which will be issued by the central bank.
Experimenting with the so-called CBDCs (central bank digital currencies) is not only China, but also Russia, Iran, Japan and many other nations. While more controversial projects concern Venezuela, which launched the Petro digital currency amid controversy, and El Salvador, which has decided to adopt bitcoin as a state currency.
And Europe? "We are working on it and we are sure it will come", confirms Rita Camporeale, who also explained its potential advantages: "Let's take the case of the culture bonus for 18-year-olds: using a digital euro would allow retailers to collect the money immediately , avoiding all the steps he has to take today. It will also be easier to take out a mortgage and would also give different companies the possibility of offering packages that can be purchased with a single transaction - for example, renting a room on Airbnb and buying typical products at the same time - immediately dividing the earnings among them ". For the moment there is little: the only certainty is that the European Central Bank is actually planning the digital euro with the direct involvement of Christine Lagarde, but we are little beyond good intentions.