EghtesadOnline: The European Central Bank has told Monte dei Paschi it needs to plug a capital shortfall of 8.8 billion euros ($9.2 billion), higher than a previous 5 billion euro gap estimated by the bank, the lender said on Monday.

EghtesadOnline: On the morning of July 29, former Italian Industry Minister Corrado Passera was traveling in a high-speed train toward the medieval city of Siena, racing to meet the directors of the world's oldest bank to present them with a rescue plan.

EghtesadOnline: The world’s oldest bank has finally run out of time. On Friday, the Italian government said it will plow as much as 20 billion euros ($21 billion) into Banca Monte dei Paschi di Siena SpA and other banks after the storied lender failed to raise money from private investors.

EghtesadOnline: The European Union has approved a 5.4 billion euro ($6.1 billion) state bailout of Italy's fourth-largest lender, Monte dei Paschi di Siena, taking the total amount of Italian taxpayer funds deployed to rescue banks over the past week to more than 20 billion euros.

EghtesadOnline: The dollar lost some steam on Thursday, slipping from its 14-year-high against a basket of currencies as investors took profits before a batch of U.S. economic data due later in the day is published.