ABI Lab
ABI Lab is the Research and Innovation Centre for Banking promoted by the ABI to facilitate dialogue between banks, companies and institutions and promote innovation in the Italian financial sector.
It is a Consortium around 120 banks and 70 companies participating in technical tables and projects experimenting by creating new synergies.
- It conducts research to identify trends, technologies and innovative systems related to banking to improve processes, operations and services, and to make management and interaction models between banks and customers even more efficient and state-of-the-art.
- It innovates through pilot projects and use cases using new technologies, such as Artificial Intelligence and DLT (Distributed Ledger Technology).
- It collaborates with various institutions to develop shared frameworks and guidelines.
ABI Lab research results
Sustainability (Nov 2025)
The voluntary carbon market represents an opportunity, but also a complex challenge: rules evolve and international standards do not always speak the same language. The ABI Lab report offers a methodological approach that can support banks in building robust strategies.
Environmental Disclosure (Nov 2025)
ABI Lab conducted a survey on the state of preparedness of Italian banks for the new environmental disclosure requirements of the European Sustainability Reporting Standards (ESRS), introduced by the CSRD.
Process dimensioning (Oct 2025)
Having a good map and knowing how much effort an activity absorbs are the first steps towards efficiency and organisational flexibility. What's more, today's dimensioning activity is highly evolved compared to the past and requires a continuous and adaptive approach, capable of updating according to exogenous (legislation, technology, market) and endogenous (internal processes, new business models) factors.
Payment innovation (Oct 2025)
The ABI Lab research, presented on the occasion of the Payments 2025 Exhibition, takes a snapshot of a payments industry in constant transformation, where speed, efficiency and accessibility are confirmed as the main levers of innovation for the banking system.
How Operations evolve (Oct 2025)
From efficiency machine to transformation engine: Banking Operations changes to proactively support bank strategies. To change processes in depth, to really act on the “end-to-end” process as experienced by customers, it is necessary to get to the engine of banking operations. In the document some significant trends emerging from the analyses of ABI Lab's Operations in Banking Observatory.
Digital Customer Photography (Jul 2025)
The digital banking experience changes across the Italian geography, from large cities to small municipalities: where access to services is not uniform, digital emerges as an enabling tool of proximity, capable of responding to different territorial and cultural sensitivities.
Digital Onboarding (Jul 2025)
Digital Onboarding is now a strategic asset of the banking offering, especially for retail customers, but also increasingly expanding into the corporate and SME segments. More than a frontier innovation, it is a structural component of the digital evolution.
Digital Banking (Jul 2025)
Capturing attention, surprising, creating an immediate connection: in the digital world, even a single gesture can radically transform the customer experience. A well-designed digital interaction strengthens reputation, improves processes, builds customer loyalty.
Contact Centre (Jul 2025)
The Contact Centre increasingly reveals itself as the GPS of the customer relationship: precise, reliable, integrated. It is no longer just a support point, but a strategic hub, capable of guiding, advising and accompanying the customer along every stage of his journey.
Cybersecurity (May 2025)
Cybercrime changes skin, changes shape, but does not stop. Scenario, investments and awareness, cyber fraud on digital channels, attack modes and detection mechanisms, new attacks.
ICT market scenario and trends for the banking sector (Mar. 2025)
The main trends of change and the ICT investment and research priorities of Italian banks, which, according to the ABI Lab 2025 Report, focus mainly on innovation, resilience, cybersecurity and sustainability to face the challenges of the future.
Catalogue use case AI (Jan. 2025)
An up-to-date collection of concrete cases to understand how AI and GenAI can be applied in banking realities, identify possible areas to work on, compare results and share lessons learned.
AI and GenAI (Jan. 2025)
Recognising the strategic value of Artificial Intelligence, banks are organising to accelerate AI adoption as they explore the new opportunities of Generative AI.
Tips and research evidence from the AI Hub community.
Information Governance (Jan. 2025)
For banks, the governance of data impacts every aspect of business operations and influences their short-term results and long-term plans. Managing a revolution is possible, but a holistic and flexible approach that embraces change is required.
Experimentation (Dec. 2024)
The most disruptive technologies have initiated a new season of widespread experimentation, so that an organised approach to experimentation is now imperative, as is finding one's own way to maximise operational impacts, people involvement, while optimising time and resources.
GenAI (Dec 2024)
Organised' experimentation favours the integration of new technologies such as GenAI, the adoption of which opens the door to new opportunities.