UniCredit : ECB has told several banks to submit plans on bad loan by end-Feb - source

MILAN (Reuters) - The European Central Bank has asked several banks to submit a plan by the end of February spelling out how they intend to reduce their problematic loans, a source familiar with the matter said on Monday.

The source, who declined to name the banks involved, said the request was a follow-up to the ECB's new guidance on non-performing loans issued last year.

Italy's biggest bank by assets UniCredit (>> UniCredit SpA) earlier on Monday said it had been requested to present such a plan by Feb. 28. Genoa-based Banca Carige (>> Banca Carige SpA) must also submit its own plan by that deadline.

Italian banks are saddled with 356 billion euros ($378 billion) of soured debts, a third of the euro zone's total, accumulated during a long recession.

(Reporting by Silvia Aloisi, editing by Luca Trogni)

Stocks treated in this article : Banca Carige SpA, UniCredit SpA