Digital Payments & Fintech - Italy

Banca d'Italia authorises and supervises payment institutions and electronic-money institutions (IMEL) under PSD2 as transposed by Legislative Decree 218/2017 (in force 13 January 2018), which amended the Consolidated Banking Act. Applications go to its Supervisory authority via the bank-constitutions division.

PSD2 introduces account information service providers (AISP) and payment initiation service providers (PISP), with access to accounts via APIs; providers are registered/authorised by Banca d'Italia and listed in the central EBA register of PSPs.

Italy participates in SEPA Instant Credit Transfer settled through the Eurosystem's TIPS platform. The EU Instant Payments Regulation (EU) 2024/886 mandates euro-area PSPs to offer instant transfers at non-premium fees with payee verification (IBAN-name check), with obligations phasing in through January and October 2025.

Legislative Decree 129/2024 (Official Gazette 13 Sept 2024) implements MiCA: CONSOB authorises crypto-asset service providers (CASPs) after consulting Banca d'Italia, which oversees financial-stability/prudential aspects. A transitional regime lets pre-existing providers operate until MiCA authorisation or 1 July 2026.

Italy is transposing the Second Consumer Credit Directive (CCD2, Dir. (EU) 2023/2225); MEF ran a public consultation on the draft decree (July–Sept 2025) targeting transposition by November 2025, bringing most BNPL under stricter disclosure and creditworthiness rules from November 2026, with national merchant-registration and OAM-oversight requirements.

Italy runs a regulatory sandbox (legal basis MEF Decree 100/2021) allowing FinTech operators to test innovative banking/financial/insurance products under supervisory dialogue, with cohorts run by Banca d'Italia, CONSOB and IVASS; Banca d'Italia also operates the Milano Hub innovation centre and joined the European Blockchain Sandbox.