Italy’s fifth biggest lender UBI is not studying any possible merger with other Italian banks, the lender said yesterday after press reports fuelled speculation it might come to the rescue of troubled Monte dei Paschi di Siena.

Results from a pan-European health check of lenders showed on Sunday that Monte dei Paschi di Siena faces a capital shortfall of €2.1 billion and the Tuscan lender said in a statement it had hired Citigroup and UBS to advise it on strategic options.

Some Italian newspapers have mentioned UBI, which passed the EU tests comfortably, as a possible white knight for Monte dei Paschi. UBI’s shares fell 3.25 per cent by 0951 GMT.

“There is no open file and anyway UBI would be free to choose by itself the appropriate solution,” UBI CEO Victor Massiah said in an emailed statement.

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