Italy's antitrust authority Monday said it opened a probe to determine whether MasterCard Inc. (MA) and seven banks operating in the country violated competition rules when setting fees.

In its weekly bulletin, the Italian regulator said the banks involved include the country's two largest banks, Intesa Sanpaolo SpA (ISP.MI) and UniCredit SpA (UCG.MI). Barclays Bank PLC (BCS) and Deutsche Bank (DB) are also targeted in the probe.

Italy's Autorita' Garante della Concorrenza e del Mercato, which has the power to levy fines, said the probe would end by July 2010.

Antitrust Web site: www.agcm.it

-By Luca Di Leo, Dow Jones Newswires, +39 06 697 66921; luca.dileo@dowjones.com