Italy’s government late Monday approved a draft budget law for next year, confirming a set of expansionary measures that could lead to a fast-rising deficit and a conflict with the European Union, The Wall Street Journal reported. The government, a coalition of the antiestablishment 5 Star Movement and the far-right League, has rattled financial markets in the past month with its budget plans, with investors demanding significantly higher interest rates to buy the country’s bonds. The full draft budget law will be sent to the Italian parliament by Saturday.

Italy could hold around 15 percent of a relaunched Alitalia, with the new company having up to two billion euros ($2.3 billion) of capital, Deputy Prime Minister Luigi Di Maio said on Friday, Reuters reported. “If France has 14.3 percent of Air France ...

The Irish Banking Culture Board being set up by lenders in the wake of the tracker mortgage scandal is a “self-regulatory” body that will not work unless the Central Bank, unions and consumer groups also have stakes, the Financial Services Union (FSU) has said, the Irish Times reported. “If the banks were serious about culture change, rather than setting up a self-regulatory body, they would support the FSU’s call for a stakeholder-led culture board on banking with the equal participation of management, the Central Bank, FSU and consumer groups,” said Gareth Murphy, the union’

A major eurozone country has elected new leadership on promises to loosen the purse strings in defiance of bond markets, Berlin and bureaucrats in Brussels. The message to Chancellor Angela Merkel, Europe’s most powerful leader, is uncompromising: “People have made a choice which envisages a renegotiation of the fiscal treaty. It’s not Germany that decides for the whole of Europe.” These are not the words of Italy’s populist leaders preparing to send a rule-breaking budget to Brussels, the Financial Times reported.

Gourmet Burger Kitchen (GBK) is reportedly drawing nearer to a controversial company voluntary arrangement (CVA) used to shut stores and renegotiate rents, in a battle that would likely pitch the beleaguered restaurant chain against its landlords, City A.M.

The world is still full of risks for the banking industry, despite reforms put in place since the financial crisis 10 years ago, Bloomberg News reported. That was the main subject of discussions this weekend in Bali, where bankers gathered for the annual meeting of the Institute of International Finance.

Patisserie Holdings Plc Chairman Luke Johnson proposed lending the troubled U.K. cake-shop owner 20 million pounds ($26.3 million) to stave off collapse amid a deepening accounting scandal, Bloomberg News reported. The owner of Patisserie Valerie expects to enter into a 10 million-pound loan agreement with Johnson, who also holds a 37 percent stake, it said in a statement Friday.