Monte Paschi board seen meeting Monday on plan to shed bad loans - source

The board of Monte dei Paschi di Sienais expected to meet on Monday to approve a plan to reduce its burden of bad loans, a source familiar with the matter said, without giving further details.Italy's Treasury, which owns 68% of Monte Paschi, has been seeking to help it reduce impaired loans to around 5% of total lending to make it a more an attractive merger partner, without imposing excessive losses on the fragile bank.