SAN LAZZERO DI SAVENA, Bologna (Reuters) - Italian insurer Unipol, which owns nearly 10 percent of BPER, would support a new share issue at the Italian bank if it used the cash for a radical bad loan clean-up, Unipol CEO Carlo Cimbri said.

"We believe in the bank ... we could support such a plan," Cimbri on Monday said in answer to a question over an hypothetical capital increase at BPER.

(Reporting by Stephen Jewkes, writing by Valentina Za, editing by Giulia Segreti)