Monte dei Paschi's bosses confident about turnaround plan - source

* CEO, CFO confident will meet restructuring targets -source

* Shares up 2 pct on Wednesday

* Management did not discuss possible partners -source

By Maiya Keidan

LONDON, April 4 (Reuters) - The top executives of bailed-outItalian bank Monte dei Paschi di Siena told investorsin London on Wednesday the bank was on track with itsrestructuring plan, one fund manager who attended the meetingssaid.

CEO Marco Morelli and CFO Andrea Rovellini, holdingone-to-one meetings with shareholders, said they were confidentabout hitting the restructuring plan's targets agreed to as partof the bank's rescue, the fund manager said.

Italy' fourth-largest bank, brought low by mismanagement anda huge bad loan pile, has been the biggest threat to thecountry's financial stability for years, until an 8.1 billioneuro ($10 billion) bailout last summer handed the Romegovernment a 68 percent stake.

But concerns over the Tuscan bank have resurfaced afterItaly's inconclusive election last month, which could produce agovernment dominated by the anti-establishment 5-Star Movementand the far-right League.

Both parties have opposed the previous government's effortsto shore up the country's banks, which have been struggling todeal with soured loans left over from a recession.

Monte dei Paschi is due to offload by mid-2018 25 billioneuros ($31 billion) in bad loans repackaged as securities inItaly's biggest such disposal, with help from a state-sponsored,privately-funded banking support fund.

It plans further sales of 5.4 billion euros to cut souredloans to 14 percent of total lending by the end of 2019, a levelwhich would still be almost three times the European average.

Yielding to regulatory pressures, all major Italian bankshave raised their goals to cut problematic loans as bankers saythe European Central Bank wants to see their level drop below 10percent of total lending.

Investors fear Monte dei Paschi may need fresh capital tocover further loan losses or to be able to shed bad debts morequickly than anticipated under its restructuring plan. They alsoworry about the bank's slow turnaround progress.

Last month, Italy's Treasury said it had no concerns aboutMonte dei Paschi following a sharp fall in the bank's shares.The shares have lost 40 percent since they returnedto trade on the Milan bourse in late October.

Monte dei Paschi made a 2017 loss of 3.5 billion euros, hitby 5.3 billion euros in loan writedowns and a 6 percent drop inrevenues.

Banking sources have told Reuters Monte dei Paschi needs tofind a partner quickly, possibly as part of three-way merger,but none have emerged so far.

UBI Banca, tipped in the Italian press as the mostlikely suitor, has repeatedly denied any interest.

Monte dei Paschi's shares closed up 1.5 percent onWednesday, outperforming a 0.5 drop in the European bank index

"It's one of the few names that is up on the day," said thefund manager, who holds Monte dei Paschi debt but no shares.

"If you assume that people are going back and voting withtheir wallets, then they (the management) must be at leastgetting the messaging right."

The fund manager said he expected that the Italiangovernment's stake in the bank would ensure the situation "getssorted out".

He said Morelli and Rovellini, who were accompanied by thebank's investor relations boss, did not talk about a possiblepartner. "They've got bigger issues," he said, adding that hethought the bank had to be cleaned up first.

Monte dei Paschi declined to comment on the London investormeetings. ($1 = 0.8127 euros)(Additional reporting by Valentina Za in Milan. Editing bySilvia Aloisi and Jane Merriman)