Monte dei Paschi banks on restructuring plan

Italy’s Monte dei Paschi di Siena has confirmed more details of its restructuring plan – including writing off bad loans and raising five billion euros in new capital by the end of the year.

The third largest Italian bank said it will cut 2,6000 jobs and close 500 branches.

Shareholders are being asked to approve the plan at a meeting on November 24.

Monte dei Paschi, which was the worst performer in European stress tests for banks expects to end 2016 with a loss of 4.8 billion euros because of higher writedowns on so-called toxic loans.

It has faced an uphill struggle to convince investors to back its third recapitalisation in as many years.

The turnaround is the first stage of a government-backed campaign to stabilise Italy’s banking sector, which is saddled with around 360 billion euros worth of problem loans.