Best and worst performing banking apps among major Italian banks 2019

With a rating of 4.5, Credito Valtellinese had the most appreciated banking app on Google Play Store among Italian banks, as of June 2019. The data were collected monthly from the Google Play Store's download page of each banking app in order to create a ranking of the ratings. Mediolanum was the second highest rated banking app in Italy, with a score of 4.4. UniCredit, which ranks among the two leading banking groups in the country in terms of assets and number of branches, came third in the ranking of the best performing banking apps, with a score of 4.3.

Banks in Italy

The total number of banks and credit institutions in Italy steadily decreased from 2011 to 2020, sinking from 740 to 474 units. Such a decrease in the country is due to the financial crisis of the years 2007 and 2008, which hit Italy quite harshly in the following years, but also to the rise of new players in the financial sector, such as online banks. In fact, during the same period, the number of bank branches also decreased steadily, and therefore the population size per bank branch increased.

Bank branches are becoming less needed

The decrease in the number of banks and in the number of bank branches caused a decrease in employment in the banking sector in Italy. In 2020, the banking sector counted approximately 275 thousand employees, compared to 322.5 thousand in 2011. On the other hand, the increasing usage of new technologies was also responsible for the decrease in the number of bank branches and therefore employees in the sector. For example, online banking has become more and more popular, and people do not necessarily need to visit a bank office every time they need to consult their bank account, transfer or invest money.