European Central Bank President Mario Draghi denied suggestions yesterday that he had been lax in his oversight of the scandal-hit Monte dei Paschi when he was governor of the Bank of Italy.

Italy’s third largest bank, which is dependent on state loans, has been at the centre of a financial and political storm over derivatives and structured finance trades in 2006-2009 that have left it facing losses of €730 million.

In his first public comments on the crisis, Draghi told the ECB’s monthly news conference in Frankfurt that the Bank of Italy had “done everything it should and appropriately and on time”.

As governor of the Bank of Italy at the time, Draghi was ultimately responsible for bank oversight prior to his departure for Frankfurt to head the ECB in November 2011.

Stuttering slightly as he began his first answer on a scandal that has dominated Italian media for days, Draghi also cited a report by the International Monetary Fund which had supported the BoI.

He said much of the criticism of the Central Bank was due to “noise” ahead of Italy’s national election this month.

“You should discount what you read in blogs as part of the regular noise that elections produce,” Draghi said.

Prosecutors are investigating the Central Bank for alleged inadequate supervision as Monte dei Paschi ran into trouble and irregularities in its operations came to light.

Draghi has been targeted by some politicians and Monte dei Paschi shareholders and savers.

On January 29 he flew to Milan to brief Italian Finance Minister Vittorio Grilli who faced parliamentary questions on Monte dei Paschi.

Draghi told reporters he had signed two reports into Monte dei Paschi by Bank of Italy inspectors, the first of which, from mid-2010, has been leaked to the press and raised several irregularities in Monte dei Paschi’s operations and accounts.