Retail Banking for Households in Italy

Abstract

As we have seen in the previous chapters, the Italian banking system consists of banks that operate as commercial banks with a strong orientation towards retail banking. This chapter focuses on the role of the household sector and the retail banking services provided to this market. Retail banking is defined as: “the cluster of products and services that banks provide to consumers and small businesses through branches, the Internet, and other channels.” On the basis of this definition, Italian banking for households can be defined as the cluster of investment, payment, and lending services offered to households as depositors or consumers, through direct distribution channels (branches), virtual channels (telephone, Internet, call centres, and ATMs), and indirect channels (agents, credit brokers, commercial dealers, etc.).