BRUSSELS (Reuters) - The European Commission said on Friday it supported the objective of Italian authorities to strengthen the banking sector and would work with them to establish conditions were met for a bailout of Monte dei Paschi di Siena (MI:BMPS).
State support will have be to be approved under EU state aid rules before it can be granted and on the basis of a sound restructuring plan, a Commission spokeswoman said.
"A precautionary recapitalisation solution can be put in place in full compliance with EU rules if the conditions are met, and require burden-sharing by shareholders and sub-debt investors," she said, adding that depositors would be fully protected as per any other bank.
It added that the responsibility for correcting cases of mis-selling lay with the sellers of the products concerned, as Italy had made clear, and urged Italian authorities to tackle the root causes of mis-selling to prevent a re-occurrence.