What Intesa Sanpaolo should do about Isybank according to the Antitrust
All the details on the Antitrust precautionary proceedings on Isybank and the position of Intesa Sanpaolo
The Competition and Market Authority returns to deal with Isybank and, less than a month after the start of the investigation, has decided to adopt precautionary proceedings to prevent the transfer to the digital bank of Intesa Sanpaolo account holders who do not provide your express consent.
So far, the Antitrust has received over 5,000 reports from individual consumers and associations representing them, of which more than 3,000 after the launch on November 2nd.
WHAT DOES THE TRANSFER BETWEEN INTESA SANPAOLO AND ISYBANK INVOLVE?
To better understand the issue, it is necessary to remember that from 1 October a first tranche of 300 thousand Ca de' Sass customers, already active in home banking, were assigned to Isybank, the bank led by Antonio Valitutti (in the photo); a transfer that will affect a total of approximately 2.4 million digitally advanced account holders, i.e. under 65 years of age, who have not been to a branch even once in the last year and without a securities deposit. Customers with balances exceeding 100 thousand euros are excluded from the group. In summary, there are two main changes: no branches in the area and internet banking only via app; a new Iban (but for a while the transfers made to the previous Iban will be automatically transferred to the new one). Furthermore, Isybank does not allow online trading or investments, it does not provide its account holders with virtual cards to make secure online purchases, bank checks and access to mortgage contracts.
WHAT THE AGCM DISPUTES
According to the Authority led by Roberto Rustichelli, the transfer of customers from one bank to another was envisaged in ways that were not compatible with the Consumer Code. In fact, these changes to the previously stipulated contracts were imposed unilaterally, therefore without prior consent to the change having been requested. Furthermore, the communications relating to the transfer to Isybank were sent to customers in the archive section of the Intesa Sanpaolo app without adopting measures that encouraged their reading (for example push notifications and pop-ups) and did not make it clear that in this way the customers might have opposed the move. Finally, the communications did not adequately indicate the changes relating to the economic conditions envisaged by the new current account and the services no longer included.
WHY PIAZZA VERDI DECIDED TO ADOPT A PRECAUTIONARY MEASURE
Now, however, considering that reports continue to arrive, the AGCM has chosen to intervene in a more incisive way, without waiting for the conclusion of the investigation and has foreseen that the two banks, "subject to clear and exhaustive information on the characteristics of the new Isybank account, give account holders a reasonable deadline to provide their express consent to the transfer". In this way, anyone who opposes it will be able to keep their previous current account under the same conditions. Intesa Sanpaolo and Isybank have ten days to communicate to Piazza Verdi the measures adopted to comply with the precautionary measure.
THE POSITION OF INTESA SANPAOLO
“All authorities must be respected. It is clear that we believe we have operated in compliance with the laws of this country and have received authorizations from the Bank of Italy and the ECB". Thus the CEO of Intesa Sanpaolo, Carlo Messina, responding to a question on the Antitrust regarding Isybank. “But – he adds – it is also true that, if even a limited number of customers, and we are talking about around 2,000, have not found our procedures to be the best ones to use, we will ensure that this can happen”.
+++
EXTRACT OF A RECENT INTERVIEW BY REPUBBLICA WITH ISYBANK'S NUMBER ONE, VALITUTTI ( here is the full interview ):
The Antitrust maintains that your communication appeared "ambiguous and disseminated in ways that do not seem consistent with the importance of the issue addressed".
We have the utmost respect for the AGCM and are available to collaborate in the examination and resolution of the issues raised by the Authority, in the best interests of customers. Furthermore, ours is not a commercial operation, but a transfer of a business branch, regulated by art. 58 of the Consolidated Banking Act. The operation only concerns predominantly digital customers, identified according to objective criteria. We are sorry if anyone has not read or understood our communication and does not recognize themselves in the characteristics of a predominantly digital user that we have outlined; on our part there is the utmost willingness to listen to everyone's needs and we are already doing so, calling all customers who have already visited Isybank, who, in general, are confirming their satisfaction.
How many customers have you moved to isybank?
On 16 October we transferred around 300 thousand customers, who kept the same cards and pin from the Intesa Sanpaolo app, and we are contacting them individually. Already on the first day 50% of them had logged in to the isybank app, now we are at 90%. The average age is 30 years. Another 2 million customers will be moved in March.
But if someone wants to go back, are they penalized?
No, in fact we give the possibility to open a new account with conditions in line with the previous ones, also offering some free advantages such as the debit card, withdrawals at all banks and bank transfers. But it often happens that when they operate with the new app and know the conditions they decide to stay. Only a few thousand have decided to return to Intesa Sanpaolo.
Among the complaints that have circulated online, it is said that you can only operate via smartphone, that you cannot have virtual cards, pay pagoPa bills or request mortgages and overdrafts. It's all true?
We started in June, we are gradually introducing some services. Access will be possible via the Internet, from your home PC, a step that we will anticipate to respond to the requests of our customers, as well as the virtual cards that will be launched at the end of November. We immediately gave the possibility to pay with PagoPa slips, a much appreciated feature. We also have some Intesa Sanpaolo products in our portfolio: for example, if an Isybank customer needs a mortgage, he reports this need using the App and is then contacted by an Intesa Sanpaolo manager for an appointment in the branch.
This is a machine translation from Italian language of a post published on Start Magazine at the URL https://www.startmag.it/economia/agcm-intesa-sanpaolo-isybank/ on Thu, 30 Nov 2023 08:07:12 +0000.