ECB inspection of Monte dei Paschi still ongoing: BOI official

An inspection by the European Central Bank of Monte dei Paschi di Siena's loan portfolio that had been due to conclude at the end of last year is still under way, a top official at the Bank of Italy told Reuters on Saturday.

The central bank's deputy director general, Fabio Panetta, was speaking on the sidelines of a financial conference in Modena.

Monte dei Paschi, which needs to plug a capital shortfall of 8.8 billion euros, is set to be nationalized after it failed to raise money from private investors last month. The government will likely inject 6.6 billion euros in the bank, taking a 70 percent stake.

The bank has said the results of the inspection, which began last May, will be released in the first half of 2017.

(Reporting by Giulio Piovaccari, writing by Silvia Aloisi)