KIEV, Feb. 10 ??“ Italian bank Banca Intesa SpA was in exclusive talks to buy Ukraine's Ukrsotsbank, a move it hopes will help it play a major role in central and Eastern Europe banking, Ukrsotsbank said Thursday.

The bank, Italy's second-largest by market capitalization, said Ukrsotsbank is Ukraine's fourth largest bank, with $1.3 billion of assets and a network of 527 branches with more than 660,000 customers.