Intesa Sanpaolo on Tuesday unveiled an ambitious four-year plan to almost halve its stock of bad loans and boost net income, the Financial Times reported. The long-awaited strategy reboot aims to rebuild investor confidence after a turbulent period for Italy’s banking industry in which Intesa has remained profitable but has seen momentum slow. Shares in Intesa, one of Italy’s most healthiest banks, rose 1.8 per cent despite volatility on global markets, as Carlo Messina, the chief executive, revealed the new business plan.

Most of Carillion’s Canadian business, including facilities management at airports, hospitals and defence sites, is to be taken over by the insurer Fairfax Financial Holdings for an undisclosed amount, the Financial Times reported. More than 4,500 of Carillion Canada’s 7,000 employees will transfer to Toronto-based Fairfax, which has agreed to take over its support services functions, both companies announced on Monday.

Deutsche Bank AG plans to return to a corner of the credit derivatives market that it largely exited about three years ago, according to people with knowledge of the matter. The German lender told clients that it plans to start making markets in some credit-default swaps tied to individual companies, said the people, who asked not to be identified because the information isn’t public, Bloomberg News reported. The bank will buy and sell contracts that settle through a clearing house and plans to start as early as the second quarter, they said.

European equities faced renewed selling pressure on Monday, pushing the continent’s main stocks benchmark firmly into negative territory for the year, the Financial Times reported. The Euro Stoxx 600 index dropped 1 per cent on the day after a 1.4 per cent sell-off on Friday. The gauge is down 1.3 per cent for 2018, meaning it has surrendered a year-to-date rise of as much as 3.5 per cent, according to FactSet data. Germany has been one of the notable laggards among continental European indices. The Dax index, which measures total returns, is down 1.6 per cent for 2018.

Mario Draghi has urged banks and regulators to prepare for the possibility that the UK and the EU will be unable to agree on a transition deal covering the immediate period after Brexit, as he warned that “frictions” from Britain’s departure were inevitable, the Financial Times reported. The president of the European Central Bank on Monday said that both the private sector and public authorities still faced uncertainty over “the shape of the UK’s future relationship with the EU” which meant “well-managed preparations are thus essential”.

Businessman Sean Dunne has asked the High Court for orders giving him access to documents which he says are necessary for the forthcoming hearing of a bid to extend his Irish bankruptcy, the Irish Times reported. Official assignee Chris Lehane, who is administering Mr Dunne’s Irish bankruptcy, is seeking to have the bankruptcy extended for the maximum term of eight years over alleged non co-operation by Mr Dunne, which he denies. Ms Justice Caroline Costello began hearing the discovery application on Monday and will resume the hearing on Wednesday.

The former owner of Monarch Airlines will look to buy parts of Carillion after the British construction and outsourcing company collapsed under large debts last month, the Financial Times reported. Greybull Capital will be among the bidders interested in buying parts of Carillion that might be ringfenced following its liquidation as an auction takes shape, people familiar with its plans said.

European Central Bank Executive Board member Benoit Coeure urged European governments to push ahead with plans to strengthen monetary union to avoid stretching his institution’s mandate in the next crisis, Bloomberg News reported. “Without further reforms, the next crisis may well force the ECB to test the limits of its mandate,” he said in a speech near Ljubljana, Slovenia, on Friday. “To assume that the current economic expansion will heal all wounds is naive.

The euro zone's bailout fund could in the future be at the centre of any restructuring of sovereign debt in the single currency area as part of reforms of the way the zone functions, the head of the fund said on Friday. The main task of the European Stability Mechanism (ESM) now is to lend cash to governments that have been cut off from markets in exchange for reforms that put their economies back on track, the International New York Times reported on a Reuters story. It has helped Greece, Ireland, Portugal, Spain and Cyprus over the past few years.

With much of the world apparently in the grip of Macron-mania, perhaps a note of caution is warranted, The Wall Street Journal reported. Without doubt the young French president is the man of the moment: In just eight months since taking office, Emmanuel Macron has transformed perceptions of his own country and electrified European politics. The French economy grew by 1.9% in 2017, the highest since 2011, while business confidence in December hit a 10-year high. Mr.