Hi, is there a ranking in order to know the request of Monzo in the world to be able to know when this country will be reached by your fantastic Bank?
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Not exactly unfortunately but Monzo share some details on their plans for international expansion in their Crowdcube investment deck, for their last round of fundraising -
Tom (Monzo’s CEO’s) starting to sound slightly concerned about the impact of Brexit on their plans to expand into Europe though 
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It is very sad to know that because of Brexit expansion in Europe will take longer, in fact I hoped that with the obtaining of the full license I could soon use it in italy
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Are there any similar digital banks in Italy worth trying out? I’ve tried a couple of traditional bank current accounts but found them costly to run. I’ll be looking at opening a new account in Italy later this year so wondering if a digital bank account is the way to go, or just opt for a post office account.
Yes, Hype is one of those that does not have fees but applies a 3% exchange rate and if you use so much credit card abroad it does not fit, then if you exceed 2500 € per year you can use the plus version at € 1 per month.
Otherwise there is Soldo that I currently use but has many fees and a monthly fee of 2 € sincerely for the costs I do not advise it you as I do not recommend a postal bill considering the fame of Italian postal services and because very often online services Offered work badly or in half.
That is why I think the services offered by Monzo are the most convenient and complete ones.
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Thanks for the reply. This reinforces my opinion of Italian banks 
Unfortunately I’m forced to open an account in Italy later this year… I’ll have a main Post Office about 15 seconds from my front door and a Banca Popolare di Sondrio another 10 seconds away, however neither seem attractive enough to give them my business…
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I as a traditional bank would recommend you to Unicredit which is very developed with online services and since it will be among the first to allow you to use Apple Pay here in italy I think it has interest in new technological opportunities.
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It maybe that banks/emoney companies like Monese or bunq can provide accounts/cards to customers in Italy. The Monese card is a Visa card whereas the bunq card is a Mæstro card.
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I knew already Monese but unlike Monzo has a cost of £ 4.95 but i did’t know Bunq, i would inform better because it seems a valid alternative.
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bunq may be better for you in Italy as it in EUR and has an IBAN…but it’s debit card can only be used in point of sale terminals and not online on the internet. Monese card works on internet too
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I’ll take a look at Bunq over the weekend; thanks. What I’m looking for is an account that I can transfer money into from UK, as well as pay local bills by direct debit. I’ll also need online access to pay other Italian accounts by bank transfer.
A debit card will be handy but not necessary, but preferably an account that doesn’t charge for every single transaction, even incoming, which seems to be the norm in Italy 
Bob, I opened a PostePay Evolution last year as I decided to spend a few months in Italy.
It’s a pre-paid Mastercard with some extras.
It gives you has an IBAN, so you can transfer money from your UK account via Tranferwise, or similar.
You can make purchases in shops and online.
I’m quite sure you can use it to pay the bills, but I am not sure it works with direct debit system.
You can send money to other Italian and European accounts.
It has a decent app to check the balance and make payments. Not pretty but works ok.
You can top up in cash at the post office for €1 fee. But you need to bring your photo id.
I reckon you might need to provide an id, Italian “codice fiscale” (tax id) and address (without proof) when getting it at the post office.
ATM withdrawals from Postamat should be free of charge, but please double check.
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The price that you pay for Postepay is higher than service that offers and allot of online services very often works bad so for your use the best option is bunq that is free for all sepa transfers. I’m now trying bunq and the courent count it’s ok but the card has a monthly fee and there is a fee for foreign country payment but unfortunately doesn’t support online payment if you don’t use Sofort or PayPal
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I had a quick look at Bunq and Postepay Evolution. I don’t think either offer direct debits (addebito diretto) which I will need to set up for utility bills.
I have an Italian ID card, a Codice Fiscale (similar to our NI number) and also a fixed Italian address so these shouldn’t be a problem. Looks like I may have to suck the transaction charges in the near future, at least until something better comes along.
Bunq supports direct debit, to pay it you must allow payment into the app.
to clarify:
bunq supports SEPA Direct Debit not BACS Direct Debit (which obviously what you need in Italy)
bunq support regular Direct Debits on personal accounts (CORE or COR1 spec) but they don’t support B2B spec Direct Debits
Thats not true, in Italy for pay bills banks use SEPA Direct Debit.
that is what I said 
that they use SEPA Direct Debit (and for the sake of community users in the UK that this is different from the UK’s Direct Debit scheme run by BACS)
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In fact, you are right, so the best solution is Monzo :mondo:
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To clarify:
I’m buying out family members to a family property later this year, my granddad’s house which is currently split between my mother and aunt. I’ll need to be able to top up funds from my UK (First Direct or Monzo) current account and use direct debits to pay the utility bills for that property. I’ll also need to transfer funds from this account to pay for incidentals like general maintenance, gardening, house cleaning, snow clearing etc. while I’m away from the property. The current account is only required for the purchase, maintenance and running of the property. Can Bunq manage this?
So I opened a Bunq account, however I couldn’t make a deposit to verify my identity using the top up method. I seems that it doesn’t support top ups from UK accounts? I managed to verify my ID via video chat, but still unable to add funds to my account. The two deposit methods offered are iDEAL and SOFORT; neither of which accept UK derived funds! So how do I add funds?