Intesa SP bad loans rising less than sector -exec

PADUA, Italy, June 30 (Reuters) - Intesa Sanpaolo (ISP.MI), Italy's biggest retail bank, has seen a rise in non-performing loans but below that seen by other banks, managing drector Francesco Micheli said on Tuesday.

"We are currently succeeding in profitably managing the growth in our bad loans which appear to be below the trend of other banks," Micheli said.

He said this was because the bank had lent well. Micheli gave no detail about increased non-performing loans.

"Let's not forget the overall commitment of the group towards small and medium-sized companies. Staying by their side is now one of our basic jobs," he said.

Some Italian banks have come under fire from the government which claims they are failing to lend sufficiently to smaller companies rocked by the recession.

Italy has set up a 10-12 billion euros ($14-$17 billion) bond-based scheme to bolster banks' capital and to assure financing to smaller companies.

Intesa Sanpaolo has said it is considering making a request for help from the scheme but has not yet signed up.

Micheli said the bank's retail arm did not envisage any job cuts, confirming it would hire 1,200 people towards the end of the year.

Intesa Sanpaolo's retail operations account for 62 percent of net operating results of the group, he said. (Milan newsroom, writing by Stephen Jewkes; Editing by Dan Lalor) ($1 = 0.7143 euro)