The Bank of Italy has published a study classifying Italian consumers into five payment profiles using data from the Eurosystem’s 2024 Study on the Payment Attitudes of Consumers in the Euro Area. Traditionalists, who combine cash and cards at physical points of sale but make limited use of remote channels, account for 50.2% of consumers. The findings show that moving away from cash does not necessarily entail adopting more innovative payment tools. Digital-only users represent 24% of consumers, while 14.6% are well-connected users who engage broadly with digital instruments and channels. Cash lovers account for 6.6%, and bank-tech skeptics, who rely on cash and prepaid cards, represent 4.6%. Younger consumers are more prevalent among digitally integrated groups, while older consumers predominate among cash-oriented groups. The study used human assessment, large language models and supervised learning to classify 4,088 respondents, and argues that payment policies, including those concerning central bank digital currencies, should reflect these differing behaviors and needs.
Bank of Italy study finds uneven shift to digital payments as traditional habits remain dominant
A Bank of Italy study finds that 50.2% of Italian consumers retain traditional payment habits, combining cash and cards while making limited use of remote channels. Another 24% do not use cash, but only 14.6% are broadly integrated into the digital payment ecosystem. The study says payment policies, including those for central bank digital currencies, should account for this diversity.