Intesa Sanpaolo, Italy’s biggest retail bank, has applied for a Turkish banking licence and plans to open a stand-alone corporate banking headquarters in Istanbul, a spokesman for the bank said. Earlier on Wednesday, Turkish daily Star had reported that the bank planned to open retail branches in Turkey’s three biggest cities, Istanbul, Ankara and Izmir.  “Intesa Sanpaolo confirms that the bank has started the application process with Turkish authorities in the past few months in order to open one single operative head office in Istanbul,” a spokesman said.