MILAN (Reuters) - UniCredit <CRDI.MI> said on Friday the European Banking Authority had rejected a request by Caius Capital to look into complex financial instruments which the British hedge fund says are wrongly included in the Italian bank's capital.
Caius had asked the EBA to open an investigation into 2.98 billion euros (2.66 billion pounds) of convertible and subordinated hybrid equity-linked securities, known as CASHES, which UniCredit issued in 2008.
UniCredit said in a statement the EBA had decided to confirm its position taken in 2012, when the bank had restructured the securities according to the EBA's guidelines.
"Unicredit has notified competent market authorities of Caius Capital's actions in light of possible market abuse," the bank said. "It is also evaluating any other recourse to protect its stakeholders, shareholders and bondholders."
(Reporting by Valentina Za; Editing by Crispian Balmer)
