Italy’s Banca Monte dei Paschi di Siena SpA, the world’s oldest bank, almost collapsed during the global financial crisis. After years of painful turnaround efforts — and its nationalization in 2017 — Monte Paschi has made significant progress to revive its profitability. Now some in Premier Giorgia Meloni’s right-wing coalition government think its time to sell at least some of the state’s 64% stake, which would raise fresh funds to pay for promises to voters and soothe wary bond markets at Italy’s economy falters. Others say the sale shouldn’t be rushed, as the 2024 deadline set by the European Union to get out of the banking business approaches. Meanwhile, the political infighting and lack of a clear strategy is making some investors nervous.

The lender, which traces its roots to the 15th century, is now the country’s fifth-largest, with more than 3.3 million clients and €120 billion ($129 billion) of total assets. For a long time it had close links to center-left parties that have traditionally run its home region, Tuscany, sponsoring such things as the football club and famous Palio horse race in Siena, where it has its medieval headquarters. It’s been considered too-big-to-fail by successive Italian governments. But it ran short of capital at the peak of the financial crisis and Europe’s subsequent sovereign debt crisis, and has burned through about €18 billion in investor and taxpayers’ cash since then.