Unipol chair pledges to keep MPS headquarters in Siena

MILAN, Aug 28 (Reuters) - Banca Monte dei Paschi di Siena (MPS)'s headquarters would remain in the Tuscan city if Intesa Sanpaolo's takeover were to go through, Unipol Chairman Carlo Cimbri said in an interview published on Friday.

As part of the takeover plan, Intesa would carve out MPS, selling its brand and around half of its branches to Unipol, which would combine them with medium-sized Italian lender BPER, where Unipol is the largest shareholder.

The historic building in central Siena that houses MPS, Rocca Salimbeni, "has been a symbol for 500 years, it is in everyone's interest to keep it," Cimbri told financial daily Il Sole 24 Ore.

MPS is the world's oldest operating bank, having been established in 1472. Under the plan envisaged by Intesa and Unipol, the new bank resulting from the MPS-BPER tie-up would be known as Monte dei Paschi, losing "di Siena".

Cimbri also told Il Sole 24 Ore that no forced dismissals would result from the combination of the two lenders, adding however that staff numbers would be streamlined through agreements with trade unions.

"The branch network will be balanced, with 50% in northern Italy and the remainder divided in broadly equal shares between central and southern Italy," he said.

In an attempt to fend off Intesa, MPS CEO Luigi Lovaglio last week proposed separate all-share bids totalling about €34 billion ($39.59 billion) for rival Banco BPM and Generali-controlled wealth manager Banca Generali.

Cimbri called Lovaglio's moves "creative", and added that market reaction to them had so far been "non favourable".

"Creativity arises from a contingent need to defend the status quo, rather than from long-cultivated industrial plans. And the market understands that," the Unipol chair said.

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(Reporting by Sara Rossi, editing by Alvise Armellini)