The Genoa-based bank announced chairman Giuseppe Tesauro would leave due to a row over the running of the bank, in the latest blow to Carige's attempts to fix its corporate governance.

"Even these stories in papers regarding mergers with other banks: we have never talked about them," Tesauro told financial daily Il Sole 24 Ore, blaming his departure on clashes with Chief Executive Paolo Fiorentino.

"(Fiorentino) is good, but he wants to do everything on his own," he added.

Carige was not immediately available for comment.

In a separate interview, with daily La Stampa, Tesauro said that the bank's Chief Executive made his job "almost impossible", receiving documents late and with the board being confronted with decisions that had already been taken.

Tesauro added that the real aim of Chief Executive Paolo Fiorentino, a former UniCredit manager, is to make the bank "a public company, where he is the only one who counts".

Carige struggled to pull through a cash call demanded by regulators at the end of last year, and is working to reduce a large soured loan burden.

Tesauro said that the bank is in a good liquidity position but "still needs to sell a lot to complete its restructuring."

(Reporting by Giulia Segreti; Editing by Simon Cameron-Moore and Louise Heavens)