Shares in ailing Italian lender Monte dei Paschi di Siena rose today after the bank appointed a new chief executive to implement an arduous emergency rescue plan to avert the risk of being wound down.
Marco Morelli, formerly head of Bank of America Merrill Lynch in Italy, was named after a board meeting of the Tuscan bank yesterday.
The appointment came less than a week after Fabrizio Viola agreed to step down under pressure from the Italian treasury and investment banks involved in a deal to raise as much as €5 billion to bolster the bank's capital.
Sources close to the consortium said investors had shown scant interest in backing the cash call with Viola as CEO, given that under his tenure the bank has burnt through €8 billion of share sales.
In a sign of further instability at the top, Chairman Massimo Tononi also tendered his resignation this week the bank said.
