Intesa SP might be interested in BMPS branches

MILAN, June 22 (Reuters) - Italian bank Intesa Sanpaolo SpA (ISP.MI) might be interested in branches which Banca Monte dei Paschi di Siena SpA (BMPS.MI) is selling, Intesa Sanpaolo's chief executive said on Monday.

"It's a hypothesis we might consider but it won't be discussed at tomorrow's board meeting," Corrado Passera told reporters on the sidelines of a conference.

Citing financial sources, Il Sole 24 Ore newspaper reported on Saturday that Intesa Sanpaolo, Italy's biggest retail bank, had expressed interest in buying 50 of the 150 branches Monte Paschi is selling for antitrust reasons.

The Siena-based bank has to sell them by the end of the year. It aims to raise between 700 million euros ($970.1 million) and 800 million euros.

The head of Florence's business lobby said last week a group of Tuscan businesspeople were trying to form a consortium to buy 106 branches.

Shares in Monte Paschi were off 1.39 percent at 1.067 euros at 1255 GMT, in line with the DJ Stoxx European banking sector index .SX7P. (Reporting by Elisabetta Andreis; Writing by Stephen Jewkes; Editing by Greg Mahlich) ($1=.7216 euros)