POSTE ITALIANE S.P.A. 
Sources close to the situation said this.
The prospect of PagoPA changing hands, although it would still remain under the control of state agencies, has raised alarm in Italy's crowded banking sector, where many small banks are struggling to keep up with rapid changes in the payments industry.
Banks are looking with concern at the growing presence of non-bank digital payments providers such as Apple, Google-owned Alphabet, or PayPal, and fear that Poste may use PagoPA to strengthen its position in the digital payments market.
However, the choice of Kpmg is a key step in a project that will see Poste become a minority shareholder in PagoPA, according to the sources, who spoke on condition of anonymity because of the sensitivity of the issue.
The parties involved could not comment or could not be reached for comment.
Poste has expanded beyond its core business into payments, mobile phone services and energy supply, as well as insurance and investment products.
PagoPA, which works with banks by enabling lenders to give their customers access to its services through online banking, handled payments to the public administration worth 46.66 billion euros this year.
In addition, the payments company is preparing to play a leading role in the government's efforts to create IT Wallet, a digital wallet in which Italian citizens will be able to store both official documents, including proof of their digital identity to access public services online, and payments.
To address competition concerns, the government-backed project prevents Poste from signing governance agreements that would allow it to exercise a dominant influence over PagoPa, in which the Istituto Poligrafico e Zecca dello Stato will be the majority shareholder.
(Translated by Chiara Scarciglia, editing Cristina Carlevaro)
