ROME: Italy’s parliament has approved a €20 billion plan to prop up the banking system but the decision did little to ease fears about cash-strapped Monte dei Paschi di Siena, the country’s oldest and third largest bank.
Expectations are growing that the Tuscan bank’s plan to raise €5 billion by the end of the month will fail and that the new government of prime minister Paolo Gentiloni will be forced to rescue it or risk it being wound down by European regulators.