There will also be no charges for money transfers made within Italy. The restrictions are set to last until December 3, 2020 and the service will remain free until this date.

From today, Skrill is also offering its wallet and Quick Checkout solution free of charge for two months to businesses in Italy using the service for the first time before the end of the year. Skrill enables businesses to process a range of different payment options such as cards, wallets, instant bank transfers, cash payments and other alternative payment methods via a single integration. The move is expected to particularly support the small businesses which have had to shift to a digital-only service during lockdown. Furthermore, any merchant which starts accepting Skrill as a payment method will have the option to be promoted to millions of Skrill users around the world.

The decision to offer Skrill’s services for free was announced today by Skrill CEO, Lorenzo Pellegrino, an Italian national, in a bid to support Italian citizens and businesses during the pandemic. The company also removed its fees during the previous lockdown.

Lorenzo Pellegrino, CEO of Skrill which is part of specialised payments platform Paysafe, said: “Italians are bracing themselves for the coming weeks as restrictions begin to tighten across the country. It has never been more important to protect our loved ones and support local businesses. We’re keen to ease the pressure that both businesses and consumers are experiencing at this time and ensure that as many funds as possible are going to the right place.”

Skrill was founded in 2001 and its money transfer service allows customers to send money from anywhere in the world directly to people in over 40 countries, including Italy. The recipient doesn’t need to have a Skrill account to receive funds, which can also be sent to bank accounts and mobile wallets.

Research from Skrill following the outbreak of COVID-19 has highlighted the increasing reliance on digital payment services among both businesses and consumers. 17% of Italian consumers said they started shopping online for the first time during lockdown and 47% said they were shopping online more due to not being able to access high street stores. Following the first lockdown, 43% of Italians said they reduced their handling of cash due to health concerns and 31% stated that they turned to digital wallets as the quickest, most effective and convenient way to transfer money overseas.

Further research among Italian businesses operating online commissioned by Skrill in September 2020 showed that 70% said offering more payment methods is more important to them now than it has ever been. 76% of online Italian businesses have plans to add more payment methods into their checkout and 41% have seen a noticeable increase in the number of customers paying using digital wallets since the pandemic began.