Rome, Dhu-AlHijjah 13, 1437, Sep 14, 2016, SPA -- A former Italian manager of Bank of America is to assume the role of chief executive at Italy's Monte dei Paschi di Siena (MPS), the oldest bank in the world and Europe's weakest according to stress tests published in July, the bank said on Wednesday. Marco Morelli is set to formally become the bank's new chief on Tuesday, according to dpa. The announcement comes days after Fabrizio Viola resigned as MPS' top manager after being at the helm since 2012. On July 29, hours before the European Banking Authority said MPS had come last in its stress tests, the lender said it was going to shore up its finances by selling more than half of its bad loans and recapitalize with up to 5 billion euros (5.6 billion dollars). The implementation of that plan is fraught with difficulties, also because it is unclear whether there will be enough investors willing to pour fresh funds into what would be MPS' third recapitalization in three years. MPS is considered the world's oldest lender, having been in business since 1472. But it has had a miserable run since 2008, requiring two state bailouts, recapitalizations and seeing its former top management convicted of financial crimes. -- SPA 23:53 LOCAL TIME 20:53 GMT www.spa.gov.sa/w