Barclays is in talks to buy up to 135 branches from Banca Monte dei Paschi di Siena to boost its presence in the retail banking market in northern Italy, one of Europe’s richest regions.

The UK bank is understood to be in advanced negotiations with MPS, which agreed to sell 150 of its branches to satisfy anti-trust concerns arising from its €9bn (£8.3bn) purchase two years ago of Antonveneta, a bank in the Veneto region of north-east Italy.