The Italian antitrust authority, Autorità garante della concorrenza e del mercato (AGCM), on Thursday announced that it had opened a probe into Intesa Sanpaolo over the move of its customers to the mobile-only Isybank.

The AGCM said that it had received more than 2,000 complaints over how the bank handled the transition, with Intesa informing their customers of the major change only via their online and mobile banking accounts.

The watchdog described the message as "ambiguous and sent in a way that is not consistent with the importance of the matter at stake."

Intesa’s actions had already been criticised by prime minister Giorgia Meloni’s Brothers of Italy party, which last month called on the Treasury to give customers more time to opt out of what was described by a “forced migration”.

Isybank, launched in June, is a key part of Intesa’s attempts to cut costs and realign business objectives, with an aim of hitting around 4 million younger customers who do not use traditional branches. Intesa started moving around 300,000 customers from its traditional network to the cloud-based Isybank last month.

The move caused temporary disruption for customers, with the transition also entailing a change in bank details.

The ACGM said that the complaints prompted it to monitor the transition, and that the shift carried “important changes” to the terms and conditions of the accounts.

Share Story: