Intesa

Banca Intesa S.p.A.

Type	Public
Industry	Bank
Predecessor	Cariplo Banco Ambrosiano Veneto
Founded	2 January 1998 (1998-01-02)
Headquarters	Milan, Italy
Key people	Giovanni Bazoli, Chairman Corrado Passera, CEO
Products	Commercial banking, Investment banking, Private banking, Asset management
Revenue	€ 9.726 bn (2004)
Number of employees	56,958 (2004)
Website	Banca Intesa

Banca Intesa S.p.A. was an Italian bank formed in 1998 from the merger of Cassa di Risparmio delle Provincie Lombarde (a.k.a. Cariplo) and Banco Ambrosiano Veneto (former Banco Ambrosiano).

In 1999 Banca Commerciale Italiana entered the group, which pursuant to the merger in 2001 changed its name in IntesaBCi; on 1 January 2003, the group's name changed to Banca Intesa. The group also acquired many regional banks, such as Cariparma and FriulAdria (both sold to Crédit Agricole after 2007 merger), Carisap, Carifol

However, Intesa also sold some of them, for example Carispezia (to Banca CR Firenze in 2004), Cassa di Risparmio di Alessandria, Banca di Legnano (to Banca Popolare di Milano), Cassa di Risparmio di Carrara (to Banca Carige) and Banca Carime (to Banca Popolare Commercio e Industria in 2001). 20 branches was also sold to Banca Nuova, with additional 26 branches was sold to Banca Nuova's parent company Banca Popolare di Vicenza on 1 January 2001, for 250 billion lire, as well as 51 branches to Unipol Banca for 400 billion lire, as part of the response to the Italian Competition Authority investigation, on the monopoly of the bank after the merger with Banca Commerciale Italiana.