BANCOMAT
Also known as: PagoBANCOMAT, BANCOMAT Pay, Bancomat
BANCOMAT is Italy's domestic debit brand and circuit, run by BANCOMAT S.p.A. Italians say bancomat for the debit card. The older names PagoBANCOMAT (the card) and BANCOMAT Pay (the app) are being unified under the single BANCOMAT identity, and many cards are co-badged with an international scheme.
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Example
At an Italian till the customer is asked card or bancomat. Bancomat routes the payment over the domestic circuit. Card routes it over an international scheme.
In Italy, nobody says "debit card". They say bancomat.
A name that stands for a card
BANCOMAT S.p.A.'s own history page dates the first Italian automated cash-withdrawal circuit to 1983, and Banca d'Italia's consumer site says the word comes from that first circuit. It is now the everyday name for the debit card. When a customer picks "bancomat" at the terminal, the transaction goes over what the central bank calls "the Italian domestic circuit", under its older name PagoBANCOMAT. BANCOMAT S.p.A., based in Rome, is the company behind it.
Three names, one brand
The company used to present PagoBANCOMAT (the physical card) and BANCOMAT Pay (the payment app) as separate products. In a press release dated 14 July 2025, BANCOMAT S.p.A. described a rebranding that unifies "the PagoBancomat physical card and the Bancomat Pay digital app, into a single identity: Bancomat". Its site now presents the card circuit under the BANCOMAT name, though BANCOMAT Pay still has its own pages. You will still meet the old names in bank documents, terminal menus and older guides, so treat them as the same circuit. The rebranding is recent, so check what your acquirer's paperwork calls it.
One card, two circuits
Some bancomat cards are co-badged: they work on two circuits at once, for instance the domestic one and Visa or Mastercard. The question "card or bancomat?" at the till is usually a question about which circuit to use, not which card the customer holds. Answer "card" and the payment goes over the international scheme.
Banca d'Italia says the shop should normally follow the customer's preference unless there is a technical problem. On contactless payments the terminal may choose one of the two circuits by itself. That sits inside the EU rule on co-badging: the merchant may set a default, and the customer can override it. Check how your payment terminal behaves.
What to check
Ask your acquirer whether it accepts the domestic circuit as well as the international card schemes. A terminal that only knows Visa and Mastercard will miss customers who tap a bancomat-only card.
In Italy, the word on the till is the word on the card.
