The improvement is surely due to faster replacement of cards that only have a magnetic stripe with cards equipped with an EMV chip, in compliance with the common standard for SEPA and for the international card circuits.
A factor contributing to this result has been the action of the Bank of Italy in its oversight function to encourage circuit operators to adopt technologically more secure devices as swiftly as possible, consistent with the expectations of SEPA, accompanied by the application of mechanisms aimed at shifting the pecuniary liability for losses caused by fraud to the operators that are non-compliant with the new security standards.