BUSINESS INFORMATION -Two major banks refused to help the Italian government for dragging them out of financial crisis

BUSINESS INFORMATION -Two major banks refused to help the Italian government for dragging them out of financial crisis, choosing to rescue their own fund raising, they said on Tuesday.

One bank, Unicredit, said in a statement it expected to issue new shares to raise capital of four billion euros (5.8 billion U.S. dollars) in early 2010, rather than taking government money in return for bonds.

Others, Intesa Sanpaolo, also announced it would raise funds through financial instruments worth spending to 1.5 billion euros and certain other transactions which aims to improve the capital base.

Both banks say they have reversed their initial decision to issue bonds before the special bank, the government's offer to buy to prop up banks and keep their loans after the world financial crisis erupted last year.

Intesa Sanpaolo said in a statement that he made his decision "in light of the better tendency in the performance of groups and economic scenario than the beginning of the year."

But Unicredit praised the government move which he said "have contributed significantly to the stabilization of the financial system and creating the necessary conditions to access the capital markets."

Intesa Sanpaolo said the government's offer to order the bond "had a concrete help to the Italian banking system out of the market phase is very critical and risky."

But Adolfo Urso, a vice minister of economic development, they warned that the announcement was not "a positive sign for business credit waiting.