Ex-Monte dei Paschi banker held in probe Finance police in Milan have detained a former senior banker of Monte dei Paschi di Siena in the first such action since allegations of corruption involving derivatives trades by Italy's third-largest lender surfaced last month. Italian media reported that Gianluca Baldassarri, former head of the bank's finance department, was held by police in Milan while his home was being searched. Reuters news agency quoted an investigative source as saying he was detained because prosecutors feared he would leave the country. Finance police in Rome confirmed that searches were ongoing in Milan. A spokesman told the Financial Times that Mr Baldassarri was not under arrest but had been held for questioning. Last week prosecutors seized €40m as part of their investigation, with the court document authorising the seizure alleging that the funds belonged to Mr Baldassarri and four other people. Monte dei Paschi last week put the losses from three derivatives trades at the centre of the fraud probe at €730m. Both the bank and the Bank of Italy said last month that the true nature of the losses from the derivatives trades, which had first come to the attention of the central bank in 2010, had only been known in October last year when documents were found by the Siena bank's new management in a safe in its headquarters.