Il Salone dei Pagamenti

Il Salone dei Pagamenti is Italy's largest payments-industry event, hosted in Milan each November under the umbrella of the Italian Banking Association (ABI) and bringing together the entire Italian payments value chain for three days. It sits alongside MoneyLIVE Payments Europe, EBAday and European Digital Finance Conference as calendar anchors for the same audiences.

What happens

The programme combines plenary sessions on the major shifts in Italian and European payments with parallel tracks on retail payments, wholesale and capital markets, regulatory developments, and emerging technologies. A large exhibition floor combines incumbent payment infrastructure providers and Italian banks with fintech startups and international vendors targeting the Italian market. Demo sessions, awards programmes and a dedicated startup village run throughout the event. The closing day typically includes a forward-looking session on the regulatory and technology agenda for the following twelve months in Italian payments.

Who attends

The audience is heavily concentrated in the Italian financial services ecosystem: senior payment, digital and strategy roles from Italian banks and credit cooperatives, executives from Italian payment companies, processors and acquirers, founders of Italian fintechs, and a substantial regulatory contingent from the Bank of Italy and IVASS. International vendors and visitors come from across Europe with particularly strong representation from neighbouring markets — France, Spain, Germany, Switzerland — and from global card networks and processors active in the Italian market.

Dominant themes

The agenda each year emphasises SEPA Instant Payments rollout and the practical implications of the EU Instant Payments Regulation for Italian banks, ISO 20022 migration progress, the implications of PSD3 and the Payment Services Regulation for Italian licensees, the ongoing evolution of PagoPA and the public-sector payments infrastructure, and the digital euro programme. Cross-border B2B payments, the Italian acquiring market, and the continued growth of e-commerce payments in Italy each have dedicated coverage. AI applications in fraud and customer service, embedded finance, and the role of stablecoins under MiCA round out the programme.

Planning to attend

Milan is well-connected internationally and the Allianz MiCo conference venue is reasonably accessible from the city centre by metro. Hotel pricing during the event is high; book early to lock central options. The conference language is predominantly Italian with simultaneous English interpretation for main sessions and selected tracks. International attendees should plan around the language consideration when assessing which tracks to prioritise. Many visitors combine the trip with adjacent commercial meetings in Milan given the concentration of Italian payment infrastructure and banking decision-makers in the city.

Use the expense calculator below to estimate the total cost of attending — registration, flights, hotels, meals, and ground transport.