Supervisors at the European Central Bank said Wednesday they had ordered temporary administrators to take over floundering Italian lender Banca Carige, after most of its board resigned. Five departures "made the installation of temporary administration necessary to steer the bank in order to stabilise its governance," the ECB's banking supervision arm said in a statement. Fabio Innocenzi - who resigned after serving as chief executive of Carige since September - is among the three temporary administrators.

They in turn will be watched over by a three-member surveillance committee.

The ECB's move on Carige follows a Wednesday decision by Italian market watchdog Consob to halt trading in Carige's shares. Stock in the bank plunged last week after its board failed to agree on a capital increase, with its biggest shareholder the Malacalza group abstaining from the vote.

Copyright Agence France-Presse, 2019