Brussels, 11/05/2005 (Agence Europe) - The spokesperson for the Commissioner for Competition has indicated that the Commission will continue to examine explanations from the Bank of Italy about the planned buy out of Banca Antoniana Popolare Veneta by its Dutch counterpart ABN Amro. The Bank of Italy's response to Neelie Kroes' letter arrived last Wednesday and is expected to clarify its attitude on the timing of the authorisations granted to Banca Popolare di Lodi (BPL) and ABN Amro for increasing their respective shares. The latter was only allowed to acquire more than 20% of Antonveneta's capital a few days before the shareholders' assembly, whereas BPL had the green light for a similar operation well before (EUROPE 8940, p 12). A manoeuvre may have been used to preserve the Italian nature of the banking sector and in the absence of precautionary measures, used in a de facto veto of the ABN Amro project.