Shares in troubled Tuscan
lender Monte dei Paschi di Siena (MPS) surged 12% to 26 cents on
the Milan bourse in late morning trading Friday after the bank's
stocks were suspended twice for excessive volatility.
Earlier in the morning, shares gained as much as 15%,
extending gains for the second straight week.
MPS shares rose for the fourth consecutive day after its
board on Tuesday confirmed plans to go ahead with a turnaround
plan while also leaving the door open to a privately funded
rescue led by former industry minister and banking industry
executive Corrado Passera.
The Passera proposal was first rejected in July.
It would be an alternative to MPS's current, European
Central Bank-approved rescue plan involving a five-billion-euro
capital increase and the securitization of 10 billion euros'
worth of non-performing loans (NPLs) with backing from Italy's
private Atlante fund.
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