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On Wednesday the Competition and Market Authority (AGCM), better known as Antitrust, announced that it had closed without taking further measures the investigation launched against the banks Intesa Sanpaolo and Isybank (the new digital bank of the Intesa Sanpaolo group). last November. The proceeding concerned the non-transparent methods with which Intesa Sanpaolo had communicated to its customers the automatic transfer of their accounts to Isybank: according to the Authority, in recent months the two banks have however adopted satisfactory measures to improve communications.
Last October Intesa Sanpaolo launched a plan to transfer approximately 2.5 million of its customers to Isybank, in several phases: the first began in October and involved 300 thousand people, while the second, which would have involved more than two million people , should have ended last March. In November, however, the Antitrust had opened an investigation, after extensive complaints from customers regarding the ways in which the decision had been communicated to them: many of the people involved had received the only communication that their account would be transferred from from one bank to another a notice, sent on the Intesa Sanpaolo app during the summer. Many said they hadn’t noticed it, or had read it too late to be able to refuse the ride on time. According to Intesa, the communications had instead taken place using the methods originally chosen by the customers.
Also in November, the Antitrust also blocked the transfers of customers from Intesa to Isybank, claiming that they had been made “in ways that did not comply with the provisions of the Consumer Code”, given that “as a result of the transfer, the account holders concerned would not have been able to no longer access the branch or internet banking via personal computer and would have had to carry out banking operations only via app. Furthermore, the new current accounts provide for different economic conditions and the loss of services previously available”, such as virtual cards for online purchases, checks or access to mortgage contracts.
Following the opening of the investigation, between January and March Intesa Sanpaolo launched a new communication campaign for customers involved in the transition, which included further warnings for people who had not responded to the initial messages. Customers already transferred were informed of the possibility of returning to Intesa Sanpaolo until 31 December 2026, enjoying better economic conditions than those they had before, and of possibly being able to regain their original IBAN (which had changed after the transfer to Isybank ). These measures were deemed satisfactory by the Antitrust, which therefore closed the investigation.
– Read also: The transfer of part of Intesa Sanpaolo customers to Isybank
