Monte Paschi Derivatives Loss Could Reach 1 Billion

Board members at Monte dei Paschi are expected to say on Wednesday that Italy’s third largest bank may have lost up to 1 billion euros on opaque derivatives trades, far higher than the initial estimate.

The trades are at the center of a probe into former management of the bank which has deepened questions about the role of banking supervisors and the influence of local politicians ahead of Feb 24-25 parliamentary elections.

A source close to the situation said the final loss, set to be announced after the market close on Wednesday, should be somewhere between the preliminary estimate of around 720 million euros ($974 million) and 1 billion euros.

via CNBC

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Alfonso Esparza

Alfonso Esparza

Senior Currency Analyst at Market Pulse
Alfonso Esparza specializes in macro forex strategies for North American and major currency pairs. Upon joining OANDA in 2007, Alfonso Esparza established the MarketPulseFX blog and he has since written extensively about central banks and global economic and political trends. Alfonso has also worked as a professional currency trader focused on North America and emerging markets. He has been published by The MarketWatch, Reuters, the Wall Street Journal and The Globe and Mail, and he also appears regularly as a guest commentator on networks including Bloomberg and BNN. He holds a finance degree from the Monterrey Institute of Technology and Higher Education (ITESM) and an MBA with a specialization on financial engineering and marketing from the University of Toronto.
Alfonso Esparza