ROME: Shares in Italian lender UniCredit were suspended this morning amid rising fears the country’s banking crisis could tip Europe over the edge. Investors rushed to dump UniCredit stock after stress tests issued Friday prompted worries over the firm’s stability in a downturn. The selling frenzy triggered a temporary trading freeze before leaving the firm’s share price nursing losses of five per cent.
Italy’s oldest bank Monte dei Paschi di Siena (MPS) came out as the weakest firm in the European stress tests, which are designed to show how banks would weather a severe economic crash. Saddled with billions of pounds worth of bad loans, the lender is now relying on a €5billion bailout to save it and stop a crisis that threatens to blow up Europe’s financial system.
