Italy leads its European Union partners for bank robberies and the percentages of banks which have been robbed, according to a study by the Italian Banking Association (ABI).
Based on data from 2006, the report found that Italy had 3,092 bank robberies compared to 582 in Germany, 438 in Spain and 271 in France.
For every 100 bank branches, 9.67 were robbed in Italy compared to 1.37 in Germany, 1.14 in Spain and 0.97 in France.
Despite the high number of bank robberies, greater spending on bank security is beginning to pay off with a 19.6% drop in the number of robberies from 1998 to 2006, the ABI report said.
The average 'loot' from bank robberies in Italy was calculated at 20,000 euros, less than the 32,000 in Germany but more than the 16,000 euros in Spain and 14,000 euros in France.
Italy also topped its EU partners for the total amount stolen from banks from 2002 to 2006: 258.7 million euros. This was 54% of the total stolen from banks in all the EU.
Germany was second with 102.2 million euros or 19% of the total, followed by France with 32.1 million euros or 6% and Spain with 31.3 million euros or 6% of the EU total.
Although more than half the bank robberies in the EU take place in Italy, there have been no fatalities here in some ten years and hostage-taking is rare.
According to the ABI, the reason why there are so many bank robberies in Italy is because Italians still carry out so many transactions in cash and continue to trail the rest of Europe for adopting alternative methods like online banking.
Data in the ABI report showed that 128 billion euros in bank notes circulate in Italy, or 19% of the total euros in circulation, and 18% of the euro coins, some 3.4 billion euros.
