How do young Italians experience money in the digital age? Do they trust app-based payments? Are they afraid of scams? And do they still feel the value of money that never passes through their hands?

These are the questions explored in the study “Touch, Pay, Trust”, conducted by Webboh LAB and the research institute Sylla, and presented today at the Salone dei Pagamenti, the international event promoted by the Italian Banking Association (ABI) and organized by ABIServizi.

The survey was carried out on a national sample of about 4,000 teens aged 14 to 19 (the so-called ExpoTeens), selected jointly from the Webboh community and the Webboh LAB panel, and representative by age, gender, and geographical area.

THE SURVEY FINDINGS

“Touch, Pay, Trust” isn’t a slogan—it’s the emotional grammar through which young Italians are learning to trust digital money,” said Furio Camillo, Professor at the University of Bologna and Scientific Director of Webboh LAB.

The study reveals that Gen Z sees money as a tool for freedom, independence, and self-fulfilment, while maintaining a strong focus on saving and financial education.

Family, education, and social context play a key role in shaping attitudes, while digital payments are seen as a gateway to autonomy—but also an area that demands awareness and caution, especially regarding cybersecurity.

Looking ahead, the new generations envision a smart, seamless, and integrated financial world, guided by a clear desire for personal control and independence.

The main findings follow below:

• Responsibility and fulfilment: what money means to Gen Z

Young Italians see money first and foremost as responsibility (8.6/10) and as a means to achieve their dreams (8.2/10).

Freedom comes next (7/10), while power and fun matter less (6.6 and 6.5). Only 3.6/10 associate money with a way to show off who you are.

For today’s youth, money isn’t power, it’s responsibility.

The younger Gen Z in particular sees it as a tool to build, not to appear.

• Saving and investing: awareness and a willingness to learn

Saving plays a central role: teens prefer to save rather than spend right away (7.2/10), viewing it as a way to make personal projects happen (8.3/10).

Investing is also seen as useful (7.1/10), and young people express a strong desire for more financial education to understand how it works (7.5/10).

In short, for Gen Z, saving means shaping their own future. And they would like more financial education.

It’s a generation that wants to learn about finance and rejects the idea that investing is only for adults.

• Digital payments and security: balancing convenience and caution

Digital payments are valued most for their speed (7.8/10) and convenience (6.9/10), but awareness around online security (7.1/10) and data protection (9.5/10) is growing.

When it comes to managing money online, 28% of young people say they trust only themselves, while 45% rely mainly on their parents. Interestingly, 16% place their trust in traditional banks.

For younger Gen Z, going digital isn’t about keeping up with the times, it’s about making life easier.

• Generational exchange: the family factor

Family still plays a key role. Around 40% of teens say they regularly use a parent’s or relative’s debit card, while 62% feel responsible when helping a grandparent make an online payment.

In nearly half of cases (49%), it’s parents who teach them how to use payment apps, although 30% learn on their own by experimenting.

Trust in digital money begins at home: parents remain the main touchpoint for financial security.

• Looking ahead: a smart, invisible future

When they picture the future, young people imagine payments that are invisible (38%) or more personalized and smart (39%), with only 4% expecting a return to cash.

Asked how they see digital money, 40% say “Trust is good, but I feel safer entering the PIN,” while 30% respond “Money isn’t everything, but I decide how to use it.”

The younger Gen Z doesn’t trust blindly — they live the digital world with active caution.
It’s the generation of “controlled trust”: to trust, but to verify.

• Influencing factors and socio-demographic differences

This study also provides a detailed overview of the dynamics that influence the financial behaviours of Italian Gen Z.

The analysis shows that parents’ education, level of study, occupation, and other socio-demographic factors significantly shape young people’s financial attitudes.

The survey highlights that:

• Family and parents’ education: children of more educated parents show greater trust in banks and their families, a more digital vision, and greater awareness of online risks.
• Level of education and autonomy: more educated young people display greater independence, a more digital view of money, and a stronger sense of responsible management.
• Age and gender: with age comes more autonomy and greater risk awareness; females tend to place more trust in their parents and show more caution, while males are more oriented toward independence and the use of digital systems.
• Geography and socio-economic context: the North and Centre favour trust in banks and digital awareness, while the South and Islands rely more on family and a traditional approach; the perceived quality of one’s living environment influences levels of trust, autonomy, and use of family bank cards.

• Six ways of living digital money

The cluster analysis identified six psychographic profiles that represent the different ways in which younger members of Gen Z interpret trust, control, and innovation in payments:

• Cashless Believers (20.5%)
• Detached Traditionalists (27.6%) – use physical cards, but without distrust.
• Cash Guardians (19.6%) – fear online theft and seek control.
• Digital Trust Seekers (16.3%) – demand transparency from banks.
• Confident Institutionalists (8.5%) – believe in the security of the banking system.
• Easygoing Digitals (7.5%) – use apps without worrying too much.
  Between trust and caution, 70% navigate the digital world demanding security and transparency.

The logical map of the six clusters reveals a generational landscape in full transformation.

Almost half of the younger Gen Z population moves between prudence and rational trust: the Detached Traditionalists and Digital Trust Seekers embody the moderate core of the system, more focused on transparency than innovation.

At the two extremes stand the Cash Guardians, who see digital systems as a threat to personal security, and the Cashless Believers, who have fully internalized the logic of “touch” as the natural language of money. In between, two interesting minorities emerge: the Easygoing Digitals, spontaneous but superficial, and the Confident Institutionalists, who represent systemic trust and a balance between technology and stability.

Overall, the younger Gen Z is not divided between those who trust and those who don’t, but rather between different ways of giving meaning to trust: from the need for control to the effortless spontaneity of the digital gesture.

“One in five young people is already fully aligned with the concept of cashless living, but more than a quarter remain tied to cash as a form of psychological control.
Between these two extremes lives the prudent majority of younger Gen Z, the ExpoTeens, who move through the digital world seeking security and transparency.”

The survey was presented by Professor Furio Camillo at Il Salone dei Pagamenti during the session “Payments 4.0 – Opportunities and Pitfalls in the Age of AI”, held in collaboration with FEduF – Fondazione per l’Educazione Finanziaria e al Risparmio. The event was attended by around 900 high school students.

Webboh is the leading media outlet for Generation Z in Italy. Founded in April 2019, it has been part of Mondadori Media since February 2023. It reaches over 6 million users each month across web and social channels (source: Social Incremental Reach Comscore, June 2025) and has a fanbase of 5 million followers on TikTok, Instagram, YouTube, and WhatsApp — 70% of whom are under 24. Webboh ranks among the top ten most influential Italian media brands on social platforms, and it is the number-one outlet for Generation Z in terms of engagement and video views (source: Top Italian Media Rankings by Prima Comunicazione, produced by Sensemakers).

Webboh Lab, born from the collaboration between Webboh and the research institute Sylla under the scientific supervision of Professor Furio Camillo, is the first Permanent Observatory on Generation Z in Italy. Its goal is to provide an authentic, data-driven picture of Gen Z, giving young people a voice through surveys and research that turn their opinions into actionable insights for companies, institutions, and the media.

Sylla is a research institute specializing in market surveys, economic analysis, marketing studies, and business development. It collaborates with national and international research centres, public institutions, communication agencies, and leading Italian universities including Bologna, Genoa, Trento, Turin, Politecnico di Milano, Università Cattolica di Milano, and Bicocca di Milano. Sylla is a member of ESOMAR and operates in full compliance with international professional ethics codes.