Italy's Antitrust closes probe into Intesa Sanpaolo

MILAN (Reuters) -Italy's competition watchdog said on Wednesday it had closed a probe into Intesa Sanpaolo and its digital bank unit Isybank because they had taken the required action to avoid unfair commercial practices.

The antitrust authority (AGCM) opened the investigation in November into the transfer of thousands of Intesa Sanpaolo customers to the lender's mobile-only service Isybank.

Around 5,000 clients of Italy's largest bank complained that they had not seen a message from Intesa about the migration in time to opt out of the Isybank transfer, the AGCM said.

Isybank, a cloud-based, low-cost mobile bank, is a key plank of Intesa CEO Carlo Messina's long-term strategy to withstand competition from fintech.

"We are glad that the commitment of Intesa Sanpaolo Group and our digital bank Isybank has been recognised," an Intesa spokesperson said in a statement.

The spokesperson also confirmed the focus on technology and innovation in Intesa's business plan.

(Reporting by Cristina Carlevaro and Romolo Tosiani, editing by Gavin Jones)