New Delhi, Jan. 14 -- Intesa Sanpaolo, the Italy's biggest bank has made its first proprietary Bitcoin purchase, buying roughly 1 million euros ($1 million) worth of the cryptocurrency.

The lender bought 11 Bitcoin on Monday, the bank's digital asset trading and investments head Niccolò Bardoscia said in an internal email that was posted on online forum 4chan.

The move comes as large financial companies are expanding into crypto and the various market.

"It's very small amounts, considering we have 100 billion euros in our securities portfolio," Intesa Chief Executive Officer Carlo Messina said on Tuesday.

"It's an experiment, a test," he added.

In 2023, the bank had set up a proprietary crypto trading desk within the corporate a...