No time, investors for private rescue of Monte dei Paschi by year-end: source

A consortium of investment banks that must decide whether to underwrite a privately-backed 5-billion euro rescue plan for Monte dei Paschi di Siena believes there is not enough time and no willing investors to execute the deal by a year-end deadline, a source said on Friday.

Another source told Reuters earlier that the European Central Bank had rejected a request by the ailing lender for more time to raise capital, in a move that piles pressure on the Italian government to bail out the bank.

(Reporting by Paola Arosio, writing by Agnieszka Flak; editing by Silvia Aloisi)