5 noteworthy FinTech partnerships in Italy in 2022

By Gloria Methri

The Italian FinTech ecosystem has been expanding exponentially and attracting investments. In the Q3 of 2022, FinTech investments in the country reached $492 million, bringing the total investment projections for 2022 to $1.35 billion. SMEs, the backbone of the Italian economy, are aiming to be better served by banks by leveraging FinTech solutions.

Here are 5 noteworthy FinTech partnerships that occurred in Italy in 2022:

• Intesa Sanpaolo and Thought Machine

Intesa Sanpaolo, Italy’s largest bank by total assets has selected Thought Machine, the UK-headquartered core banking technology company, to power its new digital banking platform.

In conjunction with this partnership, Intesa Sanpaolo invested £40 million investment in Thought Machine in February 2022, to become part of the company’s growth story. Intesa Sanpaolo will leverage Thought Machine’s Vault core banking engine to power its new digital banking platform Isybank.

• PostePay and Mastercard

Mastercard, the global payments technology company, and PostePay, part of the Poste Italiane Group, announced in October that they are working on launching a ‘Request to Pay’ (RTP) solution in Italy.

Request to Pay allows billers to request the payment of goods and services digitally and in real-time. The payer receives a digital request on their web or mobile device and can then choose to accept it and proceed to the payment method.

• Worldline and Banco Desio

French payments giant Worldline is aiming to boost its presence in Italy with the acquisition of Banco Desio’s merchant acquiring activities for around €100 million. The company also announced the setting up of a commercial partnership with the Italian bank, to leverage its network to distribute Worldline’s payment products and services to merchants in Italy.

The deal builds on Worldline’s earlier acquisition of Axepta Italy and the set-up of the Worldline MS Italy joint venture.

• illimity bank and Nexi

In October, European PayTech Nexi and illimity bank entered a partnership to support SMEs in Italy. Nexi offered its payment solutions on b-ilty, which is illimity’s digital store of financial and credit services for small and medium-sized enterprises.

Italian SMEs will now be able to rent or purchase Nexi’s collection products and services by accessing the b-ilty platform. This will allow them to accept a range of payment options in a swift and secure manner.

• HYPE and Bitpanda

HYPE, Italy’s app-based wealth management firm has teamed up with Bitpanda, the investment-as-a-service infrastructure provider to unlock the opportunities presented by Open Banking.

The partnership allows HYPE’s 1.7 million customers to invest in more than 2,500 assets including fractional stocks, ETFs, and precious metals, with any sized budget on a 24/7 basis. Bitpanda White Label enables HYPE to design its own trading solution by connecting to its API infrastructure. HYPE is the first entity in Italy to seize this opportunity.

ALSO READ: Global Digital Banking Vendor & Landscape Report Q3 2022