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☆ Analysis: Italy's cash payments U-turn is all gain, no pain
▼ + stars: | 2022-12-19 | by ( Valentina Za | ) www.reuters.com time to read: +4 min

Italy is scrapping from the draft budget a provision on retailers who refuse card payments that limits fines to transactions worth more than 60 euros ($64). A one percentage point increase in the use of cash leads to a 0.8-1.8 percentage point rise in undeclared value added tax (VAT), Italy's central bank found. "The government's U-turn on card payments marks a victory for consumers and the country," Italian consumer group Unione Nazionale Consumatori President Massimiliano Dona said. Nearly 73% of respondents in a 2022 survey by The European House-Ambrosetti's Cashless Society wished to reduce cash payments to improve speed and security, up from 60% in 2020. To defend the plan, the government has criticised the cost of digital payments saying cafe owners can hardly accept cards for 1.1 euro a cup espressos.

☆ Italy prosecutors seek trial for ex-MPS top execs in bad loan probe
▼ + stars: | 2022-12-16 | by ( ) www.reuters.com time to read: +1 min

Both Profumo and Tononi in the past chaired Monte dei Paschi's board of directors. The prosecutors in the statement said they were not requesting a trial for Monte dei Paschi. Prosecutors have been looking into allegations of false accounting and market manipulation in relation to the classing of loans as impaired at Monte dei Paschi up to 2017. Lawyers for Profumo, Tononi and the other two people did not immediately reply to a request for comment from Reuters. A judge will decide on the request for trial at a hearing in the near future.

☆ ECB sets core capital threshold for Italy's Intesa at 8.88% from 8.81%
▼ + stars: | 2022-12-15 | by ( ) www.reuters.com time to read: 1 min

MILAN, Dec 15 (Reuters) - The European Central Bank has set the minimum threshold for Intesa Sanpaolo's (ISP.MI) core capital at 8.88% for next year, fractionally higher than the current 8.81% requirement, Italy's biggest bank said on Thursday. Intesa's best-quality capital ratio stood at 12.4% at the end of September applying in full regulations which are still being phased in. Reporting by Valentina Za, editing by Gianluca SemeraroOur Standards: The Thomson Reuters Trust Principles.

☆ Citi to cut as many as 50 bankers in EMEA - sources
▼ + stars: | 2022-12-12 | by ( ) www.reuters.com time to read: +1 min

MILAN, Dec 12 (Reuters) - Citigroup (C.N) is cutting as many as 50 jobs in the Europe, Middle East and Africa (EMEA) region, two people close to the matter said. Citi declined to comment on the figure, which provides the strongest indication yet of how deep proposed cuts will run as dealmaking slumps, hit by the Ukraine war, higher interest rates and soaring inflation. Citi employs around 6,000 people across banking, capital markets and advisory activities globally. One of the sources said most of the cuts would affect people in director roles, with some managing directors also set to exit. Reporting by Valentina Za in Milan and Andres Gonzalez in London Editing by Mark PotterOur Standards: The Thomson Reuters Trust Principles.

☆ 'The White Lotus' season finale review: 'Arrivederci' says goodbye to a brilliant second season (SPOILERS)
▼ + stars: | 2022-12-11 | by ( Brian Lowry | ) edition.cnn.com time to read: +4 min

Editor’s Note: The following contains spoilers about “The White Lotus” season finale, “Arrivederci.”CNN —It started with floating bodies, and finally brought home its various threads with a sly nod to the fact that the sex in this visit to “The White Lotus” tended to be transactional. In between, the second installment proved almost as engrossing, uncomfortable and meme-worthy as its Emmy-winning predecessor, which is no small accomplishment for writer-director Mike White. Tanya, however, wasn’t the only character being manipulated for money or advantage, which is what connected the show’s various threads. Discovery), but thanks to “The White Lotus,” it’s home to one of the best things on television, and as anthology-style concepts go, potentially one of the most durable. So now that everyone obsessed with the show has said “Arrivederci” to Sicily, the only real question is, “Where are we going next?”

☆ 'The White Lotus': The show's most cringeworthy moments
▼ + stars: | 2022-12-10 | by ( Dan Heching | ) edition.cnn.com time to read: +8 min

(“White Lotus” and “Enlightened” are from HBO, which like CNN is part of the same parent company, Warner Bros. Tanya usurps a boat ride to NOT spread her mother’s ashesJennifer Coolidge (center) in 'The White Lotus' Season 1. Valentina gives Isabella a lavish (and hideous) brooch as a giftSabrina Impacciatore (L) and Eleonora Romandini in 'The White Lotus' Season 2. With White Lotus Sicily manager Valentina (Sabrina Impacciatore), White has beautifully constructed a driven and capable employer who nonetheless has quite a huge blindspot. Kai gets caught stealingKekoa Scott Kekumano in 'The White Lotus' Season 1.

☆ I draw sign art for Trader Joe's for $19 an hour. Here's how I got the job after applying to bag groceries.
▼ + stars: | 2022-12-10 | by ( Victoria Goldiee | ) www.businessinsider.com time to read: +8 min

Valentina Sleek is a 28-year-old Trader Joe's artist in Charlotte, North Carolina. I applied for an opening I came across at Trader Joe's as a crew member who bags groceries. I have to remind myself that the store art is only temporary. As a rough estimate, I'd say that I've done more than 400 pieces of art for Trader Joe's since working with them. Trader Joe's has taken care of me, and the fact that they keep investing in original store art is what makes them popular.

Editor’s note: This article includes spoilers for “The White Lotus” season 2. “He kept saying, ‘Sabrina, the more bitchy you are, the more it’s going to work.’ And I really trusted him.”Sabrina Impacciatore in "The White Lotus." Jennifer Coolidge accepts the Emmy for her performance in season 1 of "The White Lotus." The brief, moan-filled love scene that follows gets about as close to a life-affirming event as an overnight stay at the White Lotus can. I was inventing magic rituals — literally, inventing rituals to get the role, to have Mike White in my life.

NEW YORK, Dec 7 (Reuters) - Sonnedix and Cubico, two renewable energy developers, are competing to buy Chilean solar power assets that Italy's Enel (ENEI.MI) has put on the block to help trim debt, sources familiar with the matter told Reuters. Consisting of around 500 megawatts (MW) of operating and newly built sites, the portfolio is expected to fetch up to 1 billion euros ($1 billion). Enel and Cubico declined to comment. Pension and infrastructure funds have been buying stakes in low-carbon energy generation for many years, attracted by their predictable returns. Additional reporting by Valentina Za and Francesca Landini in Milan; editing by Cynthia OstermanOur Standards: The Thomson Reuters Trust Principles.

☆ Moscow and other Russian cities are scaling back or canceling New Year parties to spend the money attacking Ukraine
▼ + stars: | 2022-12-06 | by ( Sophia Ankel | ) www.businessinsider.com time to read: +3 min

Russia's military is still struggling with a number of problems on the frontlines in Ukraine. As a result, some Russian cities have canceled or scaled down their New Year's celebrations. Moscow is still holding a New Year celebration — but it will not include fireworks, its mayor said. In Moscow, Mayor Sergey Sobyanin said the capital would hold a toned-down celebration, forgoing the usual firework show and mass concert. Some Russian activists last week accused him of spending billions on Russia's military while many of them freeze back home, The Daily Beast reported.

☆ Israel's NewMed signs deal in Morocco for natgas exploration
▼ + stars: | 2022-12-06 | by ( Valentina Za | ) www.reuters.com time to read: 1 min

JERUSALEM, Dec 6 (Reuters) - Israel's NewMed Energy (NWMDp.TA) said on Tuesday it signed a deal with Morocco's energy and mining ministry and Adarco Energy to explore for and produce natural gas in the Moroccan offshore license Boujdour Atlantique. NewMed and Adarco will each have a 37.5% stake in the license partnership, NewMed said. The Moroccan ministry will hold the remaining 25%. Reporting by Ari RabinovitchOur Standards: The Thomson Reuters Trust Principles.

☆ UniCredit to assess CEO pay rise ahead of general meeting
▼ + stars: | 2022-12-03 | by ( Valentina Za | ) www.reuters.com time to read: +3 min

"The board examined Orcel's pay package in light of the important performance reached in 2021 under his leadership," the report said. "Orcel separately indicated ... he prefers to keep his fixed pay unchanged and have his variable pay closely linked to performance goals," it added. "The board agrees ... and will reassess Orcel's pay ahead of the 2023 general shareholder meeting in light of results and progress made in 2021 and 2022," it concluded. Annual pay of up to 7.5 million euros makes Orcel one of Europe's best paid bank executives, analysts say. The Financial Times first reported UniCredit sought a pay hike for Orcel citing people familiar with the matter.

☆ UniCredit to reassess CEO pay ahead of general meeting
▼ + stars: | 2022-12-03 | by ( Valentina Za | ) www.reuters.com time to read: +3 min

MILAN, Dec 3 (Reuters) - UniCredit (CRDI.MI) will reassess the remuneration of CEO Andrea Orcel ahead of its 2023 general meeting to see if the results achieved by Italy's second-biggest bank in 2021-2022 warrant an increase, a document on its website showed. "The board examined Orcel's pay package in light of the important performance reached in 2021 under his leadership," the report said. "Orcel separately indicated ... he prefers to keep his fixed pay unchanged and have his variable pay closely linked to performance goals," it added. "The board agrees ... and will reassess Orcel's pay ahead of the 2023 general shareholder meeting in light of results and progress made in 2021 and 2022," it concluded. The Financial Times first reported UniCredit sought a pay hike for Orcel citing people familiar with the matter.

☆ Russians are angry Putin is spending billions on an unpopular war as they freeze back home, report says
▼ + stars: | 2022-12-01 | by ( Sophia Ankel | ) www.businessinsider.com time to read: +4 min

Russians are accusing Putin of ignoring domestic problems while focusing on the war in Ukraine. Forbes Ukraine estimated last week that Russia has spent around $82 billion in the war so far. It is unclear how much exactly Putin is spending on the war in Ukraine, which continues nine months after the Russian leader launched his large-scale invasion. The war will not get any cheaper for Putin, Forbes Ukraine said, estimating that it will cost at least $10 billion a month going forward. Other reports of mobilized Russian soldiers being deployed with little training and poor equipment have prompted more Russians to publicly voice their criticisms.

☆ Italy seeks U.S. help to unlock funding for Lukoil refinery, sources say
▼ + stars: | 2022-11-30 | by ( ) www.reuters.com time to read: +3 min

The survival of the ISAB plant in Sicily is under threat due to a European embargo on seaborne Russian oil coming into effect on Dec. 5. ISAB has been forced to rely solely on Russian oil after creditor banks halted financing and stopped providing guarantees needed to buy oil from alternative suppliers. Its creditor banks have been wary of dealing with a Russian entity because Lukoil is affected by international sanctions in the United States, but not in Europe. So far, however, there has been no positive response to Italy's request, one of the sources said. A cabinet meeting on Thursday will also discuss steps aimed at helping the ISAB plant, one of the sources said.

☆ Former Luxottica CEO Guerra to join Prada - source
▼ + stars: | 2022-11-29 | by ( ) www.reuters.com time to read: 1 min

MILAN, Nov 29 (Reuters) - Former Luxottica Chief Executive Andrea Guerra is set to join Prada to help ease a transition at the helm of the Italian luxury goods group between current boss Patrizio Bertelli and 34-year-old son Lorenzo, a source with knowledge of the matter told Reuters. Both Prada and Guerra declined to comment on the issue. Reporting by Valentina Za; editing by Agnieszka FlakOur Standards: The Thomson Reuters Trust Principles.

☆ Gas crisis forces Italy's Ansaldo to raise $569 million in capital
▼ + stars: | 2022-11-29 | by ( ) www.reuters.com time to read: +1 min

MILAN, Nov 29 (Reuters) - Italy's Ansaldo Energia, a state-controlled supplier of power generation equipment, on Tuesday said it would raise cash and push back debt maturities after warning in August that the Ukraine crisis had hit demand for gas power generation. Ansaldo Energia is 60% owned by Italian state investor CDP Equity with the remaining 40% in the hands of China's Shanghai Electric Group (601727.SS). The capital strengthening will amount in total to 550 million euros ($569 million). As part of it, CDP Equity will convert into equity a 200 million euro loan it had extended to Ansaldo as well as 50 million euros in overdue interest payments. Like rivals, the company also had to contend with higher costs for materials used in production, energy and gas prices.

But key officials in Giorgia Meloni's right-wing government have expressed strong reservations about CDP's plans for TIM, making a non-binding bid from the state lender for the network unlikely, three sources told Reuters. Top government officials are expected to meet later on Monday to discuss plans for TIM, among other issues. Marking a break with the past, Meloni on Friday entrusted the government's broadband strategy to Cabinet Undersecretary Alessio Butti, who has openly criticised CDP's plans for TIM. Economy Minister Giancarlo Giorgetti last week reiterated that the government wants to win control of TIM's network which is deemed of strategic interest, adding such a goal can be reached in "several ways". Giorgetti also warned that Butti's plans for TIM needs to be extensively discussed within the government.

☆ Juventus Chairman Agnelli resigns with entire board
▼ + stars: | 2022-11-28 | by ( ) www.reuters.com time to read: +1 min

MILAN, Nov 28 (Reuters) - The board of Juventus (JUVE.MI), chaired by Andrea Agnelli, has resigned "in the best interest of the company," the Italian Serie A soccer team said on Monday. The collective resignation comes after Juventus' financial statements received scrutiny from prosecutors and Italian market regulator Consob in recent months for alleged false accounting and market manipulation. Juventus said it had called a shareholder meeting on Jan. 18 to appoint a new board. Andrea Agnelli, who has chaired Juventus since 2010, will not seek a reappointment, a source with knowledge of the matter told Reuters. In a letter to Juventus staff seen by Reuters, Andrea Agnelli described the company situation as "delicate."

☆ Juventus: Entire soccer club board of directors resigns over charges of false accounting
▼ + stars: | 2022-11-28 | by ( Valentina Di Donato | ) edition.cnn.com time to read: +1 min

CNN —The entire board of directors of Juventus, including the club’s President Andrea Agnelli and CEO Maurizio Arrivabene, has resigned over charges of false accounting, a statement from the Italian soccer club said Monday. The Serie A team’s financial statements underwent scrutiny by prosecutors and Italian market regulator Consob in recent months for alleged false accounting and market manipulation. Upon the proposal of Agnelli, the board agreed that it was in the best interest of the club for a new board to take over at Juventus. In its final meeting, the board appointed Maurizio Scanavino as General Manager until a new board of directors will be confirmed in a meeting scheduled for January 18. Juve is third in Serie A – 10 points behind leader Napoli – but failed to qualify for the Champions League knockout stages.

☆ Crew on a 160-foot superyacht sleep in tiny hidden cabins and only get paid about $1,400 a month – but the tips can be big
▼ + stars: | 2022-11-27 | by ( Sam Tabahriti | ) www.businessinsider.com time to read: +3 min

It's important to get on well with your colleagues, the superyacht crew told Insider. For the crew, however, it's a rather different story: they must spend months working very long days before going to sleep in tiny cabins tucked away on the vessel. The crew cabins are hidden away at the rear of the main deck. Rijeka told Insider she's trying to save as possible to achieve her dream of opening a bar in Hawaii. GooletsThe captain's right-hand man Zoran Vidović, 39, told Insider that working on a superyacht can be very enjoyable but is often quite demanding.

☆ Putin met with the bereaved mothers of soldiers at an event accused of being a PR stunt to calm public anger about the high number of casualties
▼ + stars: | 2022-11-26 | by ( Alia Shoaib | ) www.businessinsider.com time to read: +3 min

Vladimir Putin met with bereaved mothers of soldiers in what has been accused of being a staged meeting. Putin told the women he "shared their pain" amid growing anger over the deaths of mobilized troops. Activists advocating for the relatives of dead soldiers said they had not been invited to the event. In the televised event on Friday ahead of the country's Mother's Day, Putin told a select group of bereaved mothers that he and the country's leadership "share your pain," according to The Guardian. Activists previously told The Guardian that Putin's meeting with bereaved mothers would likely be a carefully orchestrated publicity stunt, with participants preselected to avoid friction.

☆ ECB's Schnabel pushes back on smaller rate hikes
▼ + stars: | 2022-11-24 | by ( ) www.reuters.com time to read: +3 min

However Schnabel, the most influential voice in the hawkish camp, said this was premature and could even prove counter-productive. "Incoming data so far suggest that the room for slowing down the pace of interest rate adjustments remains limited, even as we are approaching estimates of the 'neutral' rate," she told an event in London. "The extraordinarily large degree of uncertainty surrounding such estimates implies that they cannot serve as a yardstick to inform the appropriate pace of interest rate adjustments. Dutch governor Knot expressed doubts over market expectations for the ECB's deposit rate, currently at 1.5%, to peak at 3%. In all honesty, I'm not sure about that," Knot told a hearing at the Dutch parliament.

☆ Putin accused of staging event with handpicked relatives of Russian soldiers, as Kremlin attempts to quell anger over Ukraine war
▼ + stars: | 2022-11-24 | by ( Sophia Ankel | ) www.businessinsider.com time to read: +3 min

Putin is expected to meet with families of Russian soldiers to quell their fears over the war. The meeting comes as families of drafted Russian soldiers are growing more critical of the war. Many in Russia have grown more critical of the war amid ongoing reports that mobilized Russian soldiers are being deployed in Ukraine with little training, poor equipment, and often no clear orders. "Of course, they didn't invite us [to the event] and we of course don't want to go," she told The Guardian. Hundreds of thousands of Russian soldiers have been sent to fight in Ukraine, including some of the more than 300,000 reservists who were called up in September.

☆ ION discussing earn-out price clause with DK in Prelios deal-sources
▼ + stars: | 2022-11-23 | by ( Valentina Za | ) www.reuters.com time to read: +2 min

The two sources close to the matter said ION and DK were discussing a so-called earn out clause, which would see ION pay part of the price at closing and the rest once the business hits certain financial targets. ION and DK declined to comment. Sources had told Reuters earlier this month ION was in discussions with DK over a potential acquisition of Prelios, on which the New York-based fund has put a 1.4 billion euro ($1.44 billion) price tag. Shortly before that, ION had snatched for 1.5 billion euros Italian banking software firm Cedacri. U.S. fund DK first invested in Prelios in 2017, buying other investors to take it private.

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