	italy s bnl negotiating purchase of german bank italy s state owned banca nazionale del lavoro bnl said it is negotiating to buy a west german bank as part of its foreign expansion policy bnl president nerio nesi told a news conference the italian bank was currently involved in talks but declined to name the german institution he said the takeover move could be seen as bnl s reply to deutsche bank ag dbkg f which entered the italian market in december with the purchase of bankamerica bacn subsidiary banca d america e d italia nesi said bnl had also approved a mln dlr credit line to the soviet union aimed at enabling soviet companies to pay for italian imports he gave no further details bnl officials said the group had also decided to increase its activities in the soviet union by opening a representative office in moscow this month through its subsidiary sogecred which specialises in italian soviet trade reuter 
