MILAN (Reuters) - Italy's biggest insurer Assicurazioni Generali (>> Assicurazioni Generali SpA) said on Monday it had bought voting rights equal to 3.01 percent of Intesa Sanpaolo's (>> Intesa Sanpaolo SpA) share capital, effectively blocking the lender from acquiring a large stake in itself.

According to Italy's cross-shareholding regulations, a company cannot hold more than 3 percent of another entity's voting rights if the latter already has a stake of more than 3 percent in the former one.

Generali's biggest shareholder is Intesa's domestic rival investment bank Mediobanca (>> Mediobanca Group).

The move comes after La Stampa daily reported over the weekend that Intesa was studying a possible investment in Generali which could be part of an accord with Germany's Allianz (>> Allianz SE).

(Reporting by Agnieszka Flak; editing by Silvia Aloisi)