Black Death Bank Struggles To Survive

Black Death Bank Struggles To Survive

Eye-opening tale of the incompetence and cynicism that has almost killed Italy’s Banca Monte dei Paschi di Siena. The new CEO in 2007 didn’t know the difference between capital and liquidity, but still spent €9bn taking over a neighbouring bank, with help from Merrill Lynch, just before the global crash — after which the bank borrowed and lost billions more on derivatives deals supposed to make the balance sheet look better