Economy ministry acquires 4% of MPS bank

(ANSA) - Milan, July 1 - Italy's economy ministry has acquired a 4% stake in Monte dei Paschi di Siena (MPS) after the troubled lender said Wednesday that it had paid back interest due on part of a State bailout via shares. In June the bank paid back the last tranche of four billion euros of state aid granted in 2013 to stop it going to the wall.
    Last year MPS, the world's oldest bank still doing business, was the institute to perform worse in the European Central Bank's stress tests, with a capital shortfall of 2.1 billion euros, after being hit by the eurozone crisis and a derivatives scandal. In June the bank sold 3 billion euros' worth of shares and it is restructuring to return to financial health, closing branches, axing jobs and selling off assets.