Italy's Carige in early talks with Treasury over bad loans - source

MILAN (Reuters) - Italy's Carige <CRGI.MI> has had preliminary contacts with the Treasury's bad bank over a possible purchase of the troubled lender's bad loans, a source with knowledge of the situation told Reuters on Friday.

On Wednesday the European Central Bank picked three administrators to take charge of Carige to save the bank after it failed to raise new capital.

The Genoa-based lender said the administrators would continue working on measures to strengthen the bank's capital, shed soured loans and seek a merger partner.

(Reporting by Andrea Mandalà, writing by Giulio Piovaccari)