MPS bank shares soar 22% (2)

(ANSA) - Milan, October 24 - Shares in Monte dei Paschi di Siena (MPS) bank soared 22% to 0.33 euros a share in Monday trading. The share price earlier jumped 11.8%, taking it just above the 30-cent threshold as some 154 million MPS shares, 5.2% of its total capital, changed hands. Also on Monday, the MPS board met to examine the industrial plan of new CEO Marco Morelli and to approve the lender's third-quarter financial results. The bank is currently working to execute a rescue project approved in July providing for a five-billion-euro capital boosting plan and the sale of 28 billion euros in bad loans. The plan could reportedly include 3,000 layoffs.