VIENNA (Reuters) - There is no need to drag out a decision on how to rescue Italian bank Monte dei Paschi di Siena, European Central Bank policymaker Ewald Nowotny said on Monday, confirming that the ECB refused to give the bank more time to recapitalise.
"There is a certain general feeling that it would not be good to delay things for too long," Nowotny told a news conference.
If the bank failed to arrange a capital increase in time, one would have to look at the legal options and proceed with caution because of Monte dei Paschi's size, he added.
Italy prefers a market solution to save the bank, but should it fail a state rescue would require a forced conversion of the bank's bonds into shares, Treasury sources in Rome said on Monday.
(Reporting by Francois Murphy; editing by John Stonestreet)
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