Intesa Sanpaolo, the Antitrust blocks the move to Isybank without consent. Messina: we will satisfy customers

Giorgianni (FdI): “Justice has been done”

“This is the outcome I expected, for which I have been fighting for a few months in various places to give justice to customers who are very often harassed by banks. In recent weeks I have involved the Ministry of Economy and Finance which came to the Chamber to report on this unfortunate affair, and at this point I do not rule out hearing the CEO of Intesa Sanpaolo, Dr., in the Finance Commission. Messina, to better explain the reason for this absurd transfer method. An incorrect behavior on the part of one of the main Italian banks which cunningly thought of masking the move to Isybank by hiding the necessary measures to ensure that customers were encouraged to read the communication and, even more seriously, without offering the possibility of opposing the move. At this point, as the Antitrust itself confirms, it is no coincidence that the communications relating to the economic conditions envisaged by the new current account and the services no longer included had not been adequately indicated. With this ruling from the Authority, Intesa’s customers have a suitable deadline to consciously express any consent to the transfer. And not only that, those who declare themselves against it will have the right to maintain their previous current account under the same conditions. Justice has been done.” Thus the deputy of Fratelli d’Italia, Letizia Giorgianni.

National Consumers Union: “Victory!”

“Victory! The Antitrust accepted our complaint of 10 October in which we asked to adopt this measure as a matter of urgency. A victory also achieved thanks to the model we put on our site, downloaded by thousands of consumers, which involved forwarding a formal complaint to the bank and, for information, to the Antitrust”. This was stated by Massimiliano Dona, president of the National Consumer Union, regarding the Antitrust’s decision to adopt a precautionary measure to block the transfer from Intesa Sanpaolo to Isybank. “Account holders will finally be asked for express consent. It was our request. We said from the beginning that silent consent could not be enough. In fact, it was not a normal and usual contractual modification, given that the contractor even changed. A modification of such a magnitude, compared to the previously stipulated contract, that it could not be unilaterally imposed, not only not falling within the rules of the Consumer Code, but there not even being the justified reason provided for by the art. 118 of the Consolidated Banking Act”, continues Dona. “We had hoped that Intesa San Paolo would immediately review its positions spontaneously, as we requested. Now he will do it thanks to our complaint and the Antitrust”, he concludes.

“For bank customers, a problem already solved”

The issue of the transition from Intesa Sanpaolo to Isybank is “a problem that has already been resolved for the bank’s customers” according to Assoutients , and the Antitrust “would do well to focus its attention on other problems involving the banking and digital sector such as the proliferation of platforms that escape any control of the ECB and the Bank of Italy and which harm consumers”. Assoutenti states this, commenting on the Authority’s stop to the transition from Intesa bank to Isybank. “In the past, the matter has affected a small number of the bank’s customers, around 2% of the account holders who have switched to Isybank (Antitrust data), who have not incurred any costs for the switch and have been able and can exercise the right to choose returning to Intesa Sanpaolo without any penalty – explains the president Furio Truzzi -. The Antitrust is right to focus its spotlight on the banking and digital world but the real problems for consumers are others, starting from interest rates on mortgages at astronomical levels and the growing difficulty of families in taking out new loans”. Assoutenti “has however asked for an urgent meeting with Intesa San Paolo to find out in detail the methods of transmigration of the additional 2.4 million customers who will still have until February 29th to choose whether or not to go to Isybank”, concludes Truzzi.

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