More than half of all bank robberies in the European Union (EU) take place in Italy, a new report by the Italian Banking Association (IBA) has revealed. In 2006, there were more than 3,000 bank robberies in the country, compared to less than 600 in runner-up Germany, 450 in Spain and 300 in France, according to the report. Robbers targeted almost ten out of every 100 bank branches in Italy, whereas the probability of a bank being robbed in Germany, Spain and France hovered around one in 100.

But despite their efforts, Italian bank robbers do less well than their German counterparts in terms of loot: bank stings in Italy net robbers an average of