Intesa Sanpaolo has been instructed by Italy’s competition authority to halt the migration of 2.4 million customers to its new app-only service unless it receives explicit consent from the users.
The Italian bank launched Isybank, a cloud-based app-only platform, this summer as part of its digital transformation strategy. In October, around 300,000 customers were transitioned to the new service, with notifications giving them the option to opt out.
The Autorità Garante Della Concorrenza e del Mercato (AGCM) has reported receiving 5,000 complaints regarding this switch. According to the AGCM, messages about the transition were sent to customers in the archive section of the Intesa Sanpaolo App without any accompanying push notifications or pop-up alerts.
Customers expressed dissatisfaction, particularly regarding the timing of the messages, which were sent during the August holiday period. They also noted that the new accounts come with “different economic conditions.” Additionally, users pointed out the loss of certain services, such as the ability to create virtual cards for online purchases, after the migration.
As a result, the AGCM has mandated that Intesa must obtain explicit consent from customers before migrating the remaining 2.4 million users to Isybank, ensuring their right to retain their current accounts under the same terms.