EU's Vestager 'confident' can reach agreement with Italy on 'bad bank'
ROME (Reuters) - The European Commission is confident it can reach agreement with Italy over a stalled plan to set up a bad bank to help relieve the country's lenders of mountains of debt, the EU competition commissioner said on Thursday.
Italy's plan to set up a "bad bank" to help relieve lenders of some 350 billion euros (254.76 billion pounds) of soured loans has stumbled because of European rules on state aid.
"I am confident a solution can be found," Commissioner Margrethe Vestager told a parliamentary hearing in Rome.
Bad loans which mounted up on their balance sheets after a three-year recession have forced banks to set aside capital to cover losses, crimping their ability to lend to households and companies.
(Reporting by Giuseppe Fonte, writing by Isla Binnie; Editing by Crispian Balmer)
