Payment Cards in Italy

Introduction

Payment Cards in Italy is an invaluable guide to one of Europe's most complex card markets. The report provides statistics on market size, competitor market shares and forecasts. It also provides an overview of regulation, competitor activities, issuer strategy and product innovation including developments in contactless, mobile payments, online and prepaid cards.

Scope

*Data and analysis provided on debit cards, credit cards and deferred debit and charge cards.

*Historic market data and competitor market shares are presented for 2004-2008, H1 2009, with forecasts presented to 2013.

*New for 2010 includes data covering transactions by merchant category, premium card branding, benefits per card, card primacy and repayment behaviour.

*Includes a detailed analysis of developments in the areas of contactless, mobile payments, online and prepaid cards.

Highlights

The Italian credit card market has positive potential for growth in the coming years ahead. Italians have historically be sceptical about revolving credit products. However growth in other forms of card based payments suggests consumers may finally be ready for a greater shift towards credit based card spending.

The Italian payment card market remains extremely fragmented, with a high number of small regional players. This is slowly shifting as the banking sector begins to consolidate, however the importance of regional branding and identity, suggests the market will remain largely splintered for the foreseeable future.

Italy has the world's most developed prepaid card sector, with prepaid cards being using over twice as often for online transactions than debit cards. Dominated by Poste Italiene, these cards act as a replacement for a full bank account in many instances. The sector is likely to see further growth as it targets more specific consumer segments.

Reasons to Purchase

*Learn how the Italian general purpose payment card market has developed over the last five years.

*Understand recent developments in Italian payments in terms of consolidation, new entrants and product innovations.

*Plan your future strategy effectively with Datamonitor's five year forecasts across all product categories.


Report Highlights

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Overview 1
Catalyst 1
Summary 1
Executive Summary 2
Sizing and Forecasting the payment card market in Italy 2
Competitor and Product Developments 3
Online, Contactless, Prepaid and Mobile Payment 4
Table of Contents 5
Table of Figures 6
Table of Tables 7
Sizing and Forecasting the Payment Card Market in Italy 8
Overview 8
Key macroeconomic and consumer data 9
Macro-economic trends and performance 9
GDP 10
Unemployment 11
Real GDP growth 12
Inflation 13
Demographic and consumer trends 14
Regulatory environment 15
Key regulatory issues 16
Fraud and EMV 16
Italy is lagging behind in the conversion to EMV 16
SEPA 17
Interchange 17
Sizing the payment card market in Italy 17
Size and performance of the payment card market 17
Penetration of payment cards 17
Number of payment cards in issue by type 22
Number of payment card transactions 23
Value of payment card transactions 27
Trends in payment card use compared to other countries 32
Credit card balances outstanding, revolve rates, usage and repayment behavior 39
ATM and POS terminal numbers 43
Acquiring and processing landscape 45
Acquiring and processing structure in the market 45
Processing 45
Banca Popolare is the dominant acquirer in Italy 46
Competitor and Product Developments in Italy 47
Overview 47
Card issuer market shares and performance 48
Credit card market shares 48
Number of credit cards in issue by brand 48
Number of transactions by brand 49
Value of transactions by brand 50
Balances outstanding and card repayment rates by brand 51
Pay now card market shares 53
Charge and deferred-debit card market shares 53
Market dynamics remain complex in Italy 54
Banca Intesa acquires Sanpaolo IMI, forming Intesa Sanpaolo 55
ICBPI acquires CartaSi 55
Monte dei paschi di Siena acquires Banca Toscano and Banca Populare Antoniana Veneta 55
Barclays Bank acquires Italian credit card business of Citibank International 55
Findale Enterprises acquires Diners Club Italia 55
Banche Popolari Unite and Banca Lombarda e Piemontese complete merger 56
UniCredit acquires HVB in one of Europe's largest ever cross-border deals 56
Foreign players are also active in the Italian market 56
MBNA 56
Barclaycard 56
Some players have also left the market 56
Capital One leaves Italy due to changes in strategy 56
Product design and issuer strategy in Italy 57
Credit card product strategy 57
Card product features by brand 57
Usage trends by brand 60
Leading revolving credit products and price points 62
Card scheme market shares and developments 64
Major card scheme developments 64
Card schemes focus on organic growth 64
Pay now card scheme shares 65
Number of cards in issue 65
Value of transactions 66
Revolving credit card scheme shares 67
Number of cards in issue 67
Value of transactions 68
Charge and deferred-debit card scheme shares 69
Number of cards in issue 69
Value of transactions 70
Forecasting the payment card market in France 71
Forecasting the pay now card market 71
Forecasting the revolving credit card market 72
Forecasting the charge and deferred-debit card market 74
Online, Contactless, Prepaid and Mobile Payments 76
Overview 76
Online payments were an estimated €54.7 billion market in 2009 76
Italy is the seventh largest market in terms of potential value and is worth €54.7 billion 76
Flight and hotel purchases account for the largest share of transaction values online 77
Taken as an average per adult, online spending in Italy is at the larger end of the scale 78
Credit and debit cards account for the majority of online transactions in Italy, in line with global trends 78
Italian consumers are the sixth lowest users of credit cards online 79
Debit card usage is also below the global average in Italy 80
Fraud is the single biggest challenge facing the industry 81
Contactless payments are a $45.5 billion opportunity in Italy alone 82
Italy is the fourth largest market in terms of potential opportunity in Western Europe 82
Contactless cards are now widely distributed in Italy 83
The petrol market offers the biggest opportunity for contactless payments, but has witnessed few developments 84
Pubs and bars provide the second largest opportunity for contactless payments in Italy 85
Convenience stores are the third major opportunity, but have not received as much attention 85
Public transport provides fewer opportunities in terms of volume, but there are clear benefits from the consumer perspective that could be leveraged 86
Developments in prepaid cards 86
Prepaid cards are growing by a CAGR of 36.8% 87
Prepaid usage rates have room for growth 87
Poste Italiane dominates the Italian prepaid market 88
Developments in mobile payments 92
Investment in mobile technology is accelerating worldwide 93
There are more opportunities outside of Europe and the US 93
NFC has the greatest potential within the mobile payments arena 93
NFC also offers clear benefits over contactless cards 93
Mobile payments remain at an early phase of development 93
Telecom Italia is leading the largest commercial deployments of mobile payments in Italy 94
Appendix 95
Regulatory bodies 95
Banca d'Italia 95
Banking associations 95
Associazione Bancaria Italiana 95
Associazone Casse di Risparmio Italiane 95
Banche Credito Cooperativo 95
Other noteworthy associations 96
Associazione Italiana del Credito al Consumo e Immobiliare 96
Credit bureaus 96
EURISC: CRIF credit protection bureau 96
Experian Italia 96
Supplementary data 97
Definitions 104
AAGR 104
Affinity card 104
CAGR 104
Co-branded card 104
Credit card 104
Deferred-debit and charge card 104
EMV 104
EPC 104
ePurse 105
Merchant service charge 105
Pay now cards 105
POS terminal 105
Private-label cards 105
Methodology 105
Cards and payments database 105
Financial Services Consumer Insight is new to our offering, providing new and valuable insight 105
Further reading 106
Ask the analyst 107
Datamonitor consulting 107
Disclaimer 107
List of Tables
Table 1: Italy - macro-economic indicators 9
Table 2: Italy - demographics and consumer trends 14
Table 3: A selection of key credit card fees, APR's and product features 63
Table 4: Datamonitor's forecast for the pay now card market, 2008-13f 72
Table 5: Datamonitor's forecast for the credit card market, 2008-13f 73
Table 6: Datamonitor's forecast for the deferred-debit and charge card market, 2008-13f 75
Table 7: Visa's revised contactless interchange rates 84
Table 8: Prepaid card market shares, 2005-07 91
Table 9: GDP for 2008 by country 97
Table 10: Unemployment and unemployment rates in Western Europe 98
Table 11: Italy: GDP growth 2005-09 98
Table 12: Card penetration in Western Europe 99
Table 13: Italy: inflation (% change) 99
Table 14: Transaction split by merchant category in Italy 100
Table 15: Average transaction value and frequency of use for pay now cards in Western Europe 100
Table 16: Average transaction value and frequency of use for pay later cards in Western Europe 101
Table 17: Number of ATMs: Western Europe 101
Table 18: Population per ATM in Western European countries 102
Table 19: Number of POS terminals: Western Europe 102
Table 20: Population per POS terminal in Western European countries 103
Table 21: Balances outstanding and revolve rates, 2008 103
Table 22: Current relevant publications 106
Table 23: Future relevant publications 107
List of Figures
Figure 1: Italy had the fourth highest GDP in Western Europe in 2009 10
Figure 2: The unemployment rate stood at 7.7% in Italy in 2009 11
Figure 3: Italy's economy shrank by 4.7% in 2009 12
Figure 4: Inflation change reached its peak in 2008 at 3.4% 13
Figure 5: Regulatory overview of Italy 15
Figure 6: Italy had the fourth lowest card penetration among Western European countries, 2008 18
Figure 7: Penetration of pay later cards and pay now cards is nearly evenly split in Italy 19
Figure 8: Italy had the second lowest penetration of pay now cards in 2008 20
Figure 9: Pay later cards grew at a CAGR of 50.7% over 2004-08 21
Figure 10: Deferred-debit and charge card grew the fastest in Italy over 2004-08 but are believed to have declined in 2009 22
Figure 11: Pay now cards accounted for the largest share of cards transactions, 2004-09e* 23
Figure 12: Payments cards were used more to make transactions at the POS than at ATMs in Italy, 2004-09e* 24
Figure 13: Spending split by merchant category was more or less on par in pay now and pay later markets, 2008 25
Figure 14: Credit cards were used the least, but their usage grew the most in Italy during 2004-08 26
Figure 15: Transactions made at POS are expected to have declined the most in 2009 27
Figure 16: Pay now cards accounted for the majority of transactions by value, 2004-09e* 28
Figure 17: The value of ATM transaction is expected to have increased in 2009 compared to POS transactions 29
Figure 18: Flight and hotels account for the greatest transaction value in Italy 30
Figure 19: Average transaction values were highest for pay now cards, 2004-09e* 31
Figure 20: Average transaction value at ATMs was higher than at the POS in Italy, 2004-09e 32
Figure 21: Unlike in other major Western European countries, pay now cards in Italy had a low frequency of use but a high transaction value, 2008 33
Figure 22: ATM transactions accounted for the greatest turnover per pay now card in Italy, 2008 34
Figure 23: Pay later cards were more commonly used to make high-value transactions in Italy, 2008 35
Figure 24: Turnover per pay later card was highest at the POS in Italy, 2008 36
Figure 25: Pay now spending by merchant category was more or less even across Western Europe, 2008 37
Figure 26: Pay later spending by merchant category varied considerably across Western Europe, 2008 38
Figure 27: Italy has the lowest rate of cards with no balances at only 4.9% 39
Figure 28: Italian consumers use 77.4% of their credit cards occasionally/rarely 40
Figure 29: Italy ranks third among other Western European countries in terms of balances outstanding and revolve rates 41
Figure 30: A small number of cards are paid off in full in Italy compared to other countries 42
Figure 31: Italy witnessed a CAGR of 8.5% during 2004-08 in the number of ATM terminals 43
Figure 32: The sustained increase in POS terminals in Italy reflects growth in the POS acceptance network 44
Figure 33: SIA-SSB offers a wide range of processing activities 46
Figure 34: Agos is the leading credit card issuer in Italy 48
Figure 35: Santander was the most popular card in Italy in terms of annual frequency of use in 2008 49
Figure 36: Agos and Clarima were the top players in terms of value of transactions and average transaction value, respectively, 2008 50
Figure 37: Revolve rates varied significantly for issuers in Italy, H1 2009 51
Figure 38: The way that consumers pay off their credit cards varies depending on the issuer 52
Figure 39: Intesa Sanpaolo is the largest pay now card issuer in Italy 53
Figure 40: Intesa Sanpaolo also dominates the deferred-debit and charge card market in Italy 54
Figure 41: 13% of cards in Italy have reward/loyalty points 57
Figure 42: Most issuers are seen as offering an even range of card features 58
Figure 43: Premium cards account for 21.6% of Italian cards in issue 59
Figure 44: The majority of cards by issuer are either standard- or 'other'-branded 60
Figure 45: Card primacy levels vary strongly by brand, with Capitalia holding the highest rate 61
Figure 46: Maestro had the greatest number of pay now cards in issue, 2004-08 65
Figure 47: Visa recorded the highest CAGR in the value of pay now card transactions, 2004-08 66
Figure 48: MasterCard held the greatest market share in credit cards issued in Italy, 2004-08 67
Figure 49: MasterCard became the lead player in terms of value of transaction in 2008 68
Figure 50: Visa was the dominant player in charge and deferred-debit card schemes in Italy, 2004-08 69
Figure 51: Visa led in terms of value of transaction as well as in the charge and deferred-debit card market, 2004-08 70
Figure 52: Growth in the value of transactions forecast to drive the pay now market forward, 2008-13f 71
Figure 53: The volume and value of transaction on pay later cards will increase, 2008-13f 72
Figure 54: The increased issuance of deferred-debit and charge cards will be the driver of growth, 2008-13f 74
Figure 55: Online payments were worth an estimated €54.7 billion market in 2009 in Italy 77
Figure 56: Italian consumers were among the largest spenders online, 2009 78
Figure 57: Prepaid cards are used more than twice as often online than debit cards in Italy 79
Figure 58: Only around one third of online transactions are paid by credit card in Italy 80
Figure 59: Debit card usage online in Italy is among the lowest in the world 81
Figure 60: Contactless payments are an $45.5 billion opportunity in France 83
Figure 61: The petrol market offers the biggest opportunity for contactless payments 85
Figure 62: There were 8.5 million prepaid card in circulation by the end of 2008 87
Figure 63: Prepaid cards are usually used one to three times per month. 88
Figure 64: Postepay prepaid cards in issue and value of float 89
Figure 65: Poste Italiane accounted for 59% of prepaid cards in issue in 2007 90
Figure 66: Postepay was the most commonly held brand by consumers in 2009 92

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