Antitrust, precautionary measure on Intesa and Isybank

Brescia. The Competition and Market Authority has taken a precautionary measure against Intesa Sanpaolo and Isybank to prevent the transition to digital banking of account holders who do not provide their express consent.
According to Ansa, this operation has so far affected about 300,000 customers out of a total of 2.4 million that Intesa Sanpaolo intends to transfer to Isybank. Over 5,000 consumers, explains the Antitrust in a statement, have requested the intervention of the Authority. According to the Authority, the transfer was planned in a manner that does not comply with the provisions of the Consumer Code.

“In fact – as stated in the Antitrust statement – as a result of the transfer, the affected account holders would no longer have been able to access the branch or internet banking via personal computer and would have had to carry out banking operations only through the App. In addition, the new current accounts have different economic conditions and the loss of previously available services (for example: virtual cards for secure online purchases, bank checks, access to mortgage contracts). These essential changes to previously signed contracts were unilaterally imposed without the prior consent of customers to the transfer.” Furthermore, the Authority continues, communications regarding the transition to Isybank “were sent to customers in the archive section of the Intesa Sanpaolo App without taking precautions to encourage reading (for example, push notifications and pop-ups) and did not make it clear that customers could oppose the transfer in this way. Finally, the communications did not include”.