Shares in the world's oldest bank crashed after warning it could run out of cash by April

Shares in Banca Monte dei Paschi di Siena crashed in early trading after warning over its ability to meet its day-to-day expenses.

The bank said it would run out of liquidity in four months time, rather than 11 months as investors had previously thought.

Shares plummeted. Here is the chart:

Investing

The Italian banking crisis is coming to a head after the resignation of former Prime Minister Matteo Renzi earlier this month. Banca Monte dei Paschi, the world's oldest lender and Italy's third-biggest bank, is attempting to raise €5 billion by the end of the year to stay in business.

The sector is carrying more than €300 billion in non-performing loans and may ultimately need an injection of around €52 billion, according to Deutsche Bank analyst Paola Sabbione.

The Italian government decided on Monday to seek parliamentary approval to borrow €20 billion to bailout Monte dei Paschi di Siena as early as this week.