Intesa Sanpaolo, the Italian banking group, has failed in its attempt to clinch a $1.3bn (€973.7m) takeover of Ukrsotsbank, set to be Ukraine's second largest acquisition to date, after regulators rejected the proposed deal.

The deadline to complete the deal lapsed on Saturday after the Ukrainian National Bank and the country's anti-monopoly committee pulled their approval last week, sources close to the situation confirmed today.