"The Italian banks have made big improvements. At the moment there is no need for the state to help any Italian lender," Conte told a news conference in Brussels.

A government source told Reuters earlier that the government was preparing a decree for the rescue of Banca Popolare di Bari after the unlisted cooperative lender revealed a capital shortfall of up to 1 billion euros (£859.08 million).

The measures would include a government guarantee for the bank's debt to support liquidity and a backstop on a capital injection, the source said.

(Reporting by Giselda Vagnoni; Editing by Crispian Balmer)