Intesa Sanpaolo is under inquiry by Italy's antitrust

According to reuters.com, Intesa Sanpaolo may not have given customers clear information about the duration of the grace period, which is the time between the disbursement of the loan and the first month of repayment. Consequently, the loan repayment period could be longer, and the cost of the mortgage may be higher.

According to lawyersitaly.eu, the Antitrust Law in Italy concerns competition laws that specify the ways in which consumers are protected against corporate practices that can jeopardise the competition rules set on the local market. Antitrust regulations can refer to practices that can be carried out by a company in order to increase its client base and establish a larger market share.

Companies operating in Italy are under the supervision of the Italian Competition Authority, which is an independent entity that applies competition legislation without the participation of the government. 

Intesa Sanpaolo is the largest bank in Italy, and the Intesa Sanpaolo Group offers its services to 13.5 million customers through a network of approximately 3,700 branches distributed throughout the country. Internationally, according to the Group’s website, there are 3,684 Intesa Sanpaolo branches in Italy, as well as 8 branches in Asia, 2 branches in America, one branch in Australia, and 175 branches in Africa.

Intesa Sanpaolo launched the Neva First Fund for European Startups

In September 2022, the venture capital arm of Italy-based bank Intesa Sanpaolo, Neva Sgr, has launched the Neva First Fund to support European startups. The fund will primarily invest in startups at the growth stage as they enter new markets, and Neva would like to deploy all its available capital by August 2024. 

The largest investor is Intesa Sanpaolo followed by a series of Italian banking foundations such as Compagnia di San Paolo, Cariparo and Carilucca.  Neva Sgr was launched in 2020 and has invested in 26 companies so far, including Italian startups such as proptech Casavo, insurtech Yolo and Italian luxury marketplace Mirta. 

The Neva First Fund includes EUR 250 million, and its average initial investments have a ticket size of around EUR 4 million. However, the fund will also invest first cheques of up to EUR 10 million.