Everything is fine? It will need to be verified. The fact is that the competition and market authority Antitrust has initiated preliminary proceedings against Intesa Sanpaolo SpA and Isybank SpA, the digital bank of the Intesa Sanpaolo group, regarding the sale of hundreds of thousands of account holders from Intesa Sanpaolo. İşbank. This can be read in a note of the official who examined the ways in which this transfer was transmitted and carried out. Antitrust received nearly two thousand reports regarding the transfer of account holders from Intesa Sanpaolo to Isybank: according to the guarantor authority, the communication sent was “vague and disseminated in ways that did not appear to be consistent with the importance of the matter under discussion”. However, according to Intesa, the “accusatory” communications occurred using methods originally chosen by customers. What does this mean in practical terms? So why was an investigation opened? Let’s proceed in order.
From Intesa Sanpaolo to Isybank: what’s happening
According to AGCM, the move in question, which includes the absence of physical branches, will lead to increased account holding costs for at least some account holders. The transfer plan involves the transfer of customers whom Intesa Sanpaolo defines as “predominantly digital” in the communication sent to them, that is, “customers who are familiar with digital services and channels, as well as consumer customers who use them in any case. Do not use the branch at all or have limited use”. In the same document, customers were given the option to declare themselves “predominantly non-digital.”
So, in essence, the way the two companies communicated and effected the transfer fell under the Antitrust lens. Consumers complained that the communication was transmitted in online banking or the Intesa Sanpaolo app, without any evidence and during a time of year that largely coincided with the summer holidays. Therefore, account holders – Antitrust continues to explain – “did not fully know that their accounts had been transferred to another operator, and in fact they often became aware of this only after the deadline set by Intesa Sanpaolo to declare their refusal to transfer. Their right to object to the transfer was made clear enough appears not to have been specified.”
According to Agcm, the transition to the new banking operator will require significant changes in the existing contractual conditions with Intesa Sanpaolo and in the methods of using the service: Since it is a completely digital operator, there will be no physical branches to contact. It can only be interacted with via smartphones and not through your personal computer’s browser as with Intesa Sanpaolo. Some features and services that are available in Intesa Sanpaolo and not in Isybank will also be missing (for example, so-called virtual cards). “This will lead to increased account maintenance costs for at least some account holders,” according to the official.
Transfer of some of Intesa Sanpaolo customers to İsybank
Let’s take a step back to understand in detail where today’s Antitrust investigation comes from. In recent weeks, many customers of Intesa Sanpaolo bank have discovered that their current accounts will be automatically transferred or have already been transferred to Isybank, which is part of the same group but entirely online. Those affected by this transition are mostly account holders who do not frequently visit the bank’s physical branches, although some have complained, claiming that the methods by which Intesa Sanpaolo communicated the migration of accounts were not transparent enough.
While the transfer from one bank to another is expected to concern approximately three hundred thousand customers between September and December this year, the accounts of more than two million people should be transferred to İş Bank in the first months of 2024. All this happens through an automatic procedure: that is, customers do not need to take any action (for example for new IBANs or new debit or credit cards), because the bank will deal with it directly. Starting from a certain date, the Intesa Sanpaolo accounts of selected customers are transferred to İsybank by defining a new Iban and new current account number. However, Intesa Sanpaolo credit and debit cards will remain valid until they expire or are lost and will then be replaced with Isybank credit cards.
The services of the Isybank digital bank will be allocated, first of all, to the approximately 4 million Intesa Sanpaolo customers who do not frequently use the group’s physical branches but prefer to manage their accounts online through the application or website: this is why Intesa Sanpaolo decided to move its millions of digital customers to İşbank gave. But many account holders involved in the transition process complain about the methods of communication: some reported that they received a notification in the Intesa Sanpaolo app as the only communication throughout the summer, while others admitted that they did not even read the message from the bank or had noticed it too late to reject the transition in time.
However, according to Intesa Sanpaolo, the information was sent “even before the proposed transfer to Isybank, based on the method chosen by the customer as the preferential channel for receiving communications from the bank.” Intesa Sanpaolo also said that customers can always contact all “relationship channels” such as branches or online support to ask for help. In fact, the transfer of the account holders in question was considered a unilateral modification of the contract; It was a procedure that did not require the customer’s express consent, even though the bank had stated that those selected for the transfer “could choose to do so”. They will stay with Intesa Sanpaolo if they prefer or do not recognize themselves as predominantly digital users.”
Therefore, the communication sent stated a date by which customers should submit their dispute: but as stated, many people read this late or did not read it. They could not refuse to move to İş Bankası. This is where today’s Antitrust investigation was born, following customer reports of a shift to online banking. Now we need to clarify this.
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Source: Today IT
Roy Brown is a renowned economist and author at The Nation View. He has a deep understanding of the global economy and its intricacies. He writes about a wide range of economic topics, including monetary policy, fiscal policy, international trade, and labor markets.
