First OK for banking commission (2)

(ANSA) - Rome, February 28 - The Italian parliament gave its first OK Tuesday to setting up a commission of inquiry into the banking system. The Senate finance committee handed a mandate to the rapporteur, Mauro Maria Marino of the ruling centre-left Democratic Party (PD), to report to the Senate, where the measure has already been put on the agenda. The opposition 5-Star Movement abstained because of the one-year duration for the commission and the failure to introduce incompatibility for MPs who have had links to banks. The Italian banking system has been through a string of woes including rescues that left bond-holders with worthless paper. One bondholder killed himself. The system is also weighed down by non-performing loans and the bank with the highest ratio of these, Monte dei Paschi di Siena, is set for an expensive precautionary recapitalisation.