Italy Cash Hoarding Costs Households 130 Billion

The ING Global Investment Survey, conducted with Ipsos across 11 countries, shows Italy is not uniquely timid, but it remains highly exposed. Only 44% of Italian savers invest today, while 32% say they plan to do so in the future and 24% rule it out altogether. Yet awareness of the cost of inaction is already widespread: 72% of investors and 65% of non-investors say they understand that holding cash means losing value over time.

For policymakers, that matters because household savings are not just a private portfolio choice. They are a source of capital for companies, infrastructure and financial intermediation. When cash dominates, domestic wealth does less work for the economy, and that can deepen dependence on bank deposits rather than broader capital-market financing.

The survey also highlights why Italy’s investment rate remains below what its savings base might suggest. Fear of risk is the main brake, followed by the complexity of financial products and cost concerns. Forty-three percent of Italians say opening an investment account is still too complicated, while 57% would invest more if returns were untaxed or taxed more lightly. That is a direct rebuke to a fiscal system that many savers see as discouraging long-term allocation to markets.

Still, the picture is not one of mass refusal. ING said Italy ranks second among the eurozone countries it studied, behind Germany, in the share of savers investing, and has the lowest proportion of respondents who say they will never invest. That leaves room for a gradual shift if product design, financial education and tax treatment improve.

For investors, the message is two-sided. The bull case is that Italy’s low participation rate leaves significant room for financial assets, asset managers and banks to capture flows if confidence improves. The bear case is that cultural caution, regulatory complexity and persistent inflation continue to keep a large pool of household wealth parked in deposits, limiting the pace of reallocation.

The timing is important. Italy is already wrestling with inflation above 4% and higher energy costs, while Rome seeks more budget flexibility from Brussels to cushion households and businesses. In that environment, the cost of idle liquidity is rising, not falling. The longer savers stay in cash, the more purchasing power erodes — and the more capital the economy fails to mobilize.