A Slovak street performer dressed in white papal vestments has been detained and fined by the police in Rome for bearing too close a resemblance to the late John Paul II, the police said on Friday.

"The problem was that he looked a lot like Karol Wojtyla. He was detained for usurpation of title which is a misdemeanour," a police spokeswoman told AFP.

"The cassock he was wearing has been confiscated," she added.

The man has been released and will have to pay between 154 and 929 euros ($200 and $1,200), depending on a decision by a judge, the spokeswoman said.

Another officer at the station where the 55-year-old man was taken quipped: "If he had been dressed like Tutankhamun nothing would have happened."

The performer has been working the main avenue leading up to the Colosseum in his white skullcap for weeks -- alongside Roman centurion imitators and other performers -- but police said they acted following an anonymous complaint.

A vendor selling miniature Colosseum souvenirs on a spot overlooking the Roman Forum said he saw the man being detained on Thursday.

"He was right here, near me. He was taken away by two officers in civilian clothes who were pretending to be tourists," he said.

11.0pt;Y-a@al","sans-serif";mso-fareast-font-family:"Times New Roman"; color:red'>Bloomberg over concerns that reporters at the news service had been using the financial information terminals to keep tabs on employees of the bank.

According to the report, Goldman found that Bloomberg staffers could determine which employees had logged into Bloomberg's proprietary terminals and how many times they had used particular functions.

A statement from Goldman Sachs sent to AFP said: "After we brought this matter to the attention of the news organization, senior management at Bloomberg moved quickly and assured us they were taking measures to address the problem."

A separate report by the Financial Times said JPMorgan Chase had also complained that Bloomberg reporters were spying on activities by bank employees.

JPMorgan Chase declined comment.

The Financial Times said Bloomberg reporters have been using the vast trove of information on the company's terminals to gain a competitive advantage in covering certain news events, such as the "London Whale" trading scandal which cost the US bank billions.

The Bloomberg financial terminals, which are operated separately from the news service, allow banks and other financial professionals the ability to research virtually any type of financial asset and carry out trades.

A rival of Thomson Reuters, Bloomberg was founded by New York Mayor Michael Bloomberg, who is not involved in management due to his political activities.