MPS bank shareholders approve 5-bn-euro capital hike

(ANSA) - Siena, May 21 - Shareholders in troubled Monte dei Paschi di Siena (MPS) bank on Wednesday approved a five-billion-euro capital hike to help pay back a 4.1-billion-euro government bailout from 2012 and regain profitability. The bank said that 96.68% of shareholders present, representing almost 35% of the bank's current capital, voted in favour of the capital boost.
    MPS "is no longer a problem for the Italian banking system and for this country," said bank President Alessandro Profumo. Much of the capital increase will be used to pay down the government debt in order to avoid nationalization, starting in June, bank officials told the meeting.
    Antonella Mansi, who is stepping down as president of the powerful MPS Foundation, said she was confident that the bank's restructuring is paying off and the new capital will help it to stabilize. The foundation has been the largest single shareholder in the bank, but under Mansi's leadership, has cut its investment to pay off debts. "The results so far achieved represent the first step in the process of relaunching the (MPS) group," said Mansi, who has been credited with being a significant force in helping the bank turn itself around financially.
    Earlier this month, MPS announced that it lost 174.1 million euros in the first quarter of this year, a significant increase compared with the loss of 101 million euros during the same period last year.
    The bank attributed the larger loss to non-recurring factors.
    Italy's third-largest bank by assets was thrown into crisis in January 2013 when it emerged that a shady series of derivative and structured-finance deals had produced losses of 720 million euros.
    Since then, MPS has come under the spotlight on several occasions in relation to investigations for suspected insider trading and fraud.