Italy PM Monti says may address parliament on Monte dei Paschi

DAVOS, Switzerland (Reuters) - Italian Prime Minister Mario Monti said on Thursday he would be prepared to recall parliament to report on the troubled Banca Monte dei Paschi di Siena but rejected suggestions that authorities had failed in their oversight functions.

"I don't think there is an issue of oversight and it's especially important to separate this issue of Monte dei Paschi from the confusion that is being created around it for reasons which are obvious, especially as far as the government and the Economy Ministry are concerned," Monti told a news conference at the margins of the World Economic Forum in Davos.

"It's an issue which is really without any substance, but the government is nonetheless ready to address parliament on it," he said, following criticisms of both the Bank of Italy and the government over their handling of the loss-making derivatives and structured trade deals which have rocked Italy's third-biggest bank.

(Reporting by Lisa Jucca; writing by James Mackenzie)