Bancomat Consortium sets out the rules of the national card payment scheme and aims at developing Bancomat/PagoBancomat card transactions, ensuring, in accordance with the needs and expectations of clients (both merchants and private citizens), high safety and quality levels, through the definition and management of specific rules to which participant banks must comply to.
In order to improve its products and their usability, Bancomat Consortium carries out several activities, such as:
• setting out the necessary provisions to ensure that every Bancomat/PagoBancomat card is universally accepted within the Italian territory to withdraw cash and make payments;
• defining multilateral interchange fees for the Bancomat/PagoBancomat products;
• guiding the Scheme towards a Single Euro Payment Area (SEPA) compliance;
• approval of all card layouts, including monitoring of the issuing phase;
• preventing frauds through a specific entity (“Presidio per la sicurezza monetica”);
• a geo-referenced ATM finder, named FARO, which gives real-time informations to clients on functioning ATMs across the Italian territory.
ABI’s “War on cash” project
Italian and European Authorities have identified the diffusion of cashless payments as a strategic driver towards modernization and internationalization of society.In order to develop cashless payments, in 2006 ABI launched the “War on Cash” Project, identifying the Italian situation and setting out a series of regulatory and non-regulatory measures to curb the use of cash.The banking system should play an outstanding role in the development of cashless payments, by promoting the use of current payment instruments and by developing new ones, capable of helping users eliminate barriers to their use.
Reducing cash transactions: the Italian Banking Association’s experience >>