Monte Paschi Bailout Faces ECB Pushback

Italy's plan for an €8.8 billion ($9.8 billion) bailout of Banca Monte dei Paschi di Siena SpA faces resistance from the European Central Bank, which is concerned the lender may struggle to maintain capital buffers as it tries to get back on its feet, according to people with knowledge of the matter, Yahoo reported. The ECB's oversight arm has signaled that the current rescue plan doesn't do enough to ensure that Monte Paschi will comfortably meet supervisory capital requirements in the next few years, as the bank offloads about €30 billion of bad loans through a securitization, the people said, asking not to be identified because the rescue talks are private. Five months after Monte Paschi requested help, the Italian government, the ECB, the European Commission and the bank have yet to reach a final agreement on how the bank should be restructured as part of the bailout or how much capital it will need to return to viability.