Reuters - Italy’s biggest bank Intesa, selected as the financial advisor for the Istanbul-Izmir highway project, has announced that they have reached agreements with Akbank and Citibank for the financing of the project. The advisor banks will manage the USD 4.8 billion portion of the total USD 6 billion highway project to connect Turkey’s two major cities with a 421 km highway. BIIS Bank of Intesa Sanpaolo Group also announced that they will open a branch in Turkey.