Problems at 4 crisis-hit banks 'acute but contained'

(ANSA) - Rome, December 15 - The problems involving retail investors of four Italian banks that had to be rescued by the government are acute but contained, the chairman of the banks Roberto Nicastro said on Tuesday.
    Premier Matteo Renzi's government stepped in to save Banca Marche, Banca Etruria, CariChieti and CariFe at the end of November, using financing from Italy's healthier banks.
    Nicastro said authorities were dealing with "about a thousand very delicate cases" which were being paid close attention.
    "It is an acute phenomenon that is luckily much more contained," he said, pointing to previous concerns of a more widespread issue.
    Criticism continued on Tuesday of the government's intervention, which saw many bondholders bereft of their life-savings, one of whom committed suicide.
    Left-leaning MP Pier Luigi Bersani from Renzi's Democratic Party called for more legislation to defend citizens from "market excesses".
    Renato Brunetta, the Lower House whip for Silvio Berlusconi's Forza Italia party, said Tuesday that the opposition centre-right parties will present a motion of no-confidence in Renzi's government on Wednesday.
    Matteo Salvini, leader of the Northern League, said his party was also preparing to present a motion of no-confidence in Renzi.
    Meanwhile a former member of the executive board of Banca Etruria, Rossano Soldini, told La Repubblica daily that he remembered attending board meetings where everything was already decided.
    "I thought I would be able to contribute with my experience as a businessman, but I was just a pencil pusher. Me and the large part of the executive board," he said.