Ex-managers of bailed-out Italian bank MPS acquitted on appeal

Rome (dpa) - The former managers of Italy‘s troubled Monte dei Paschi di Siena (MPS) bank have been cleared on appeal of financial foul play.Judges said Thursday that former MPS chairman Giuseppe Mussari, chief executive officer Antonio Vigni and finance chief Gianluca Baldassarri are not guilty of obstructing the work of regulators.The Florence verdict overturned a 2014 one in which the trio were each given suspended sentences of three years and six months for hiding suspect trades from Bank of Italy inspectors. The prosecution had accused MPS bosses of intentionally failing to disclose information about a complex derivatives deal used to massage the bank‘s worsening accounts. Thursday‘s ruling is unlikely to put an end to the legal case, as it can be challenged before Italy‘s highest appeals body, the Court of Cassation in Rome. Founded in 1472, MPS is considered the oldest bank in the world. It was de facto nationalized this year after a state bailout that ended years of misery for the Tuscan-based institution.MPS was caught out by the 2008 global crisis after overspending on the takeover of a rival, suffered losses on Italian government bonds, and saw many loans go sour during a record-length Italian recession.