MPS reports return to profit

(ANSA) - Milan, May 11 - Italian lender Monte dei Paschi di Siena (MPS) on Friday said that it is back in the black, reporting a first-quarter net profit of 188 million euros from the 169 million loss posted in the first trimester of 2017.
    Commercial investments since the end of December 2017 rose by 900 million euros thanks to a 20% hike in new loans.
    The bank, which announced this week that it had completed a 24 billion euro bad-loan sale, reported that it had started a procedure to offload this year an additional 4.5 billion euros in impaired debts.
    MPS is the world's oldest lender and was bailed out by the government last year.