Monte Paschi Leads Italy Banks Lower Amid Fresh Capital Worries
(Bloomberg) -- Banca Monte dei Paschi di Siena SpA led Italian banks to new record lows in Milan on Monday amid fresh concerns the country's lenders are under pressure to raise capital to bolster their finances.
The European Central Bank has asked Monte Paschi to draw up a plan for tackling its bad-loan burden, asking the lender to reduce its load of soured debt to 14.6 billion euros ($16.2 billion) in 2018 from 24.2 billion euros at the end of 2015, Italy's third-biggest bank said in a statement Monday.
Selling such a large stock of soured loans “could lead the bank to seek additional capital that investors are not available to provide,” said Vincenzo Longo, a strategist at IG Markets in Milan. “The government's moves to seek easier rules to support Italian banks underscores the difficulty of the weakest ones, adding pressure to the industry.”
Italian Prime Minister Matteo Renzi is weighing injecting capital into the nation's banks after Britain's vote to leave the European Union jolted stock markets, aggravating the decline in Italy's lenders. The plan has drawn opposition from Germany and is pitting Renzi against the EU amid concern government funding would violate the region's state-aid rules.
Seven of the 10 biggest decliners in the STOXX 600 Banks Index were Italian lenders, with Monte Paschi dropping 8.2 percent as of 9:40 a.m., while UniCredit SpA fell 3.3 percent. The benchmark index, which tracks 48 banks, dropped 1.1 percent.
Renzi will respect European Union rules on state aid for banks, an Italian official said on Monday. Italian newspaper la Repubblica earlier reported the ECB's request for Monte Paschi.
Monte Paschi, which has dropped 70 percent this year, has sold 2 billion euros of bad loans since 2015, toward a goal of 5.5 billion euros in such disposals by 2018. Chief Executive Officer Fabrizio Viola said in May that he is considering accelerating the effort.
To contact the reporter on this story: Sonia Sirletti in Milan at ssirletti@bloomberg.net. To contact the editors responsible for this story: Simone Meier at smeier@bloomberg.net, Cindy Roberts, Ross Larsen
-
Unhedged Position: Can India See An Indonesia-Style Time Correction?
The Nifty is trading below levels it first clocked in 2024. Is there, then, as I have suggested in the headline, potential that the current time correction drags on painfully for the next three-five, even ten years?
-
Navigating Friction And Energy Realities: An Analysis Of Marco Rubio's October Visit To India
Occurring at a critical juncture marked by stalled trade negotiations and escalating geopolitical pressures over global energy supplies, the visit offers a profound window into modern US-India relations.
-
India Exports Capital. Why Not Export Trusteeship?
The big question, then, is whether India can build an institution that global borrowers, investors, banks, and lawyers can trust, even without an Indian connection.
-
France's Economy & Politics Are In Crisis | The Reason Why
Let's look at how the French economy and politics evolved under Nicolas Sarkozy, Franois Hollande and Emmanuel Macron.
-
You May Inherit The Business. You Must Earn Its Credibility.
Succession tests the founder's ability to share authority as much as it tests the next generation's readiness to assume it.
-
Signing Deals Is One Thing; Making Them Work Is Another | The Week In Whys
Sometimes, things don't turn out as planned. Indian companies have lost some bids to rivals, some projects won't produce until 2030.
-
FOMC Wall, PERM Suspension, Hospital Stocks | Talking Points This Week
A PERM suspension would directly affect green-card sponsorship rather than H-1B visas, so the near-term earnings impact could remain relatively limited. The key question is whether this marks a new phase in US scrutiny of Indian IT.
-
Everything, Everywhere, All At Once: Dalal Street's Week To Forget | Joining The Dots
Visa curbs, a Starlink spat and cancer drug caps: what connects this week's shocks for Indian markets
-
India Is Going Abroad For Critical Minerals. But It May Take Years To Pay Off | The Reason Why
Although India's steps are in the right direction, they remain modest compared with India's growing dependence.
-
When Everyone Has AI, What Gives You An Edge?
India's young workforce is entering an uncertain world of work where powerful AI tools are becoming widely accessible. The advantage will belong to those who combine deep expertise with digital fluency, and the distinctly human capabilities that technology cannot manufacture.
