MILAN, June 30 (Reuters) - Italian bank Intesa Sanpaolo SpA's will be told whether it can keep its Sud Polo Vita insurance unit once the antitrust agency completes its probe of a deal by bank shareholders, a source close to the matter said.
Intesa Sanpaolo said last week that as part of a reorganisation of its bancassurance activities, it intended to seek approval to keep Sud Polo Vita, which the antitrust authority had ordered sold as one of the conditions for the 2006 merger that created the retail bank.
Currently, the antitrust agency is also looking at a shareholder accord between Intesa shareholders Assicurazioni Generali SpA and France's Credit Agricole SA and the authority's requirement that the French bank sell down its Intesa stake.
"The two proceedings are running in parallel," the source, who spoke on condition of anonymity, said on Tuesday.
"But any decision on the insurance unit can't be made if there is not clarity first on goverance (involving Credit Agricole and Generali) and the (governance) investigation is closed."
In its bancassurance revamp, Intesa wants to combine four units to cut costs and create a bancassurance business with 8 billion euros in premiums.
The Intesa Sanpaolo governance probe is due to end by middle of October. (Reporting by Alberto Sisto; writing by Nigel Tutt; editing by Karen Foster)