The president of one of the top banking lobby groups in Italy has dismissed reports that the Bank of Italy is scrutinising the derivatives businesses of some the country's domestic banks, following a €600m ($880m) loss suffered by Banca Italease related to the instruments four months ago.

Corrado Faissola, president of Associazione Bancaria Italiana, the Italian Banking Association, said in an interview this morning with Radiocor News agency, that the investigations were nothing more than routine.