In 2009, Italians made only 66 non-cash transactions per person compared with about 170 in the euro zone.

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Currently, there are more than 1.7 million ATM machines worldwide.

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China has a staggering $2.4 trillion in foreign exchange reserves - enough to buy 2/3rds of all NASDAQ-quoted companies.

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The share of new Harvard graduates entering finance or consulting, which in 2007 reached 47%, plunged to a mere 20% in 2009.

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Around 20% of all online transactions now take place over so-called alternative payment systems - bypassing banks and credit cards.

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In 2009, US consumer credit card debt saw a sustained drop for the first time in decades, falling for 10 straight months as the recession took hold.

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The average Wall Street employee took home nearly $124,000 on top of his base salary in 2009 — a quarter more than in 2008 but still less than the average bonus in 2006, when the figure peaked at a staggering $191,360 per head.

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In Kenya, roughly $ 2 million is transferred through the M-PESA mobile payment system each day, with an average amount of $20.

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In 2007, there were over 10 million people with investible assets of $1 million or more. In 2008, that number dropped to 8.6 million.

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Last year, about 3.8 million cheques were written every day in Britain, compared with a peak of 10.9 million in 1990.

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Globally, $736 billion were paid out as dividends by quoted firms in 2007.

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Foreigners currently hold around half of US Treasury debt - up from 18% in 1990.

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In its early days, the Diners Club card took a hefty 7% cut of the tab from restaurants that accepted it.

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In the 6 months after the collapse of Lehman Brothers in September 2008, there were just 2 IPOs in America.

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There have been at least 124 bank-centred crises around the world since 1970, most of which were preceded by booms in house prices and stockmarkets, large capital inflows and rising public debt.

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For each $100,000 in unexpected gains at the stockmarket in the 1990s, the typical shareholder retired seven months earlier.

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On average, shares in China trade at 31 times trailing earnings, double the global average.

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The finance industry's share of corporate profits in America peaked at an incredible 41% in 2007.

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The average share in China has changed hands 3 times so far this year.

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Total tennis sponsorship spending in 2009 is expected to be $ 581 million, up 1.3 % from the year before.

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