Silvio Berlusconi, Italy's prime minister, on Thursday called on Antonio Fazio, the governor of the Bank of Italy, to resign after the country's finance minister quit in protest at the government's failure to sanction the governor over a banking scandal.

Mr Berlusconi said after an emergency meeting of his ruling four-party coalition that the “conviction emerged that the stay in office of the governor of the Bank of Italy is no longer opportune, nor compatible with the international credibility of our country”.