World's oldest bank Monte dei Paschi granted state bailout

Third-largest bank in Italy

The world's oldest bank, Italy's Monte dei Paschi di Siena (MPS), has been approved for a state rescue by the Italian government.

According to the Financial Times, trading of the bank's shares, bonds and derivatives was suspended and an emergency meeting was held to decide whether to allow the bank to benefit from liquidity guarantees and a capital injection. The need for a bailout was caused by the bank's high volume of non-performing loans and inability to raise the €5bn required amount of private capital following its failure of a European-wide banking stress test. 'Confirmation of changing political landscape': Industry reacts to Renzi's referendum defeat Approval for a state rescue was granted by the Ita...