italys banca monte dei paschi di siena spa reached a deal with a banking union to axe 3500 jobs by offering workers early retirement and a large portion of their net pay for up to seven years the latest effort by the troubled lender to turn a page on a chapter that saw it undergo state recapitalization and the disposal of billions in bad loans the federazione autonoma bancari italiani or fabi union said thursday that workers could opt for early retirement on a voluntary basis by the end of november and will be entitled to 80 of their net pay or 85 for those making less than 2850 euros 289745 a month monte dei paschi didnt respond to a request for comment on the deal the worlds oldest bank said in june that it would aim to cut roughly 4000 jobs through a voluntary exit scheme a move monte dei paschi expects will create eur270 million in savings a year from 2023 against oneoff restructuring costs of about eur800 million it will also close some 150 branches bringing its network to just over 1200 branches the bank has long been weighed down by a mountain of bad loans and a legal scandal after the bank teetered near failure rome spent some eur54 billion to nationalize it in 2017 equivalent to more than 6 billion at the time earlier this week the european commission the executive arm of the european union said it had approved a revised set of commitments by italy regarding the ailing lender and that extending the deadline to restructure it and sell the government stake is acceptable under eu rules the italian government is the banks controlling shareholder with a 6423 stake