Banca Intesa S.p.A. was an Italian banking group, formed in 1998 by merger of Cassa di Risparmio delle Provincie Lombarde (Cariplo) and Banco Ambrosiano Veneto.

The group also acquired many regional banks, including Cariparma, FriulAdria (both sold to Crédit Agricole after 2007 merger), Carisap, Carifol.

Crédit Agricole was the major shareholder of the group for 25.51% shortly before the merger of Intesa with BCI.

[7] Banca Intesa and Sanpaolo IMI announced, in August 2006, that they were to merge to found Italy's biggest and Europe's third-largest banking group in terms of total assets.

The effective merger date was 1 January 2007 and adopted the name "Intesa Sanpaolo SpA".