Italy wants to shield Monte dei Paschi from bad loan losses as it prepares the bailed-out bank for a sale, but faces resistance from European Union competition authorities, two sources close to the matter said, Reuters reported. Italy’s Treasury has a year-end deadline to present an outline of its strategy for getting out of the world’s oldest bank, which was at the forefront of Italy’s banking crisis until a 2017 state bailout was cleared by Brussels.

Italy’s cabinet has agreed a draft budget that aims to keep deficit broadly stable while cutting taxes for lower earners and clamping down on evasion, clearing the first important collaborative hurdle for the country’s two-month-old coalition, the Financial Times reported.

UniCredit SpA has told European Central Bank officials that it may create a German holding company to control part of its business, according to people with knowledge of the matter, the Bloomberg News reported. The move could potentially reduce funding costs and help shield the Italian bank from any future crisis in its home country. The plan, which hasn’t been finalized, could be announced at the bank’s Dec. 3 investor day, according to people with knowledge of the matter who asked not to be identified because the matter is private.

Italy is in talks with the European Commission over a plan to rid state-owned Monte dei Paschi di Siena of around two thirds of its soured loans to pave the way for a sale of the bank, a source with direct knowledge of the situation said, Reuters reported. Hurt by a pile of problem debts and a derivatives scandal, Monte dei Paschi was for years at the forefront of Italy’s banking crisis until a bailout in 2017, which handed the state a 68% stake in the world’s oldest lender.

Southern Italy has the worst graduate employment rates in the EU, according to new data published on Thursday which highlighted the impoverished region’s economic dysfunction, the Financial Times reported. Only one in three recent graduates is in employment in the area, less than half the EU average and the worst of any region in the bloc, including the poorest parts of Greece and Spain.

Telecom Italia SpA Chairman Fulvio Conti is planning to resign in a move that signals the battle for influence between two of the phone carrier’s largest investors may be nearing an end, according to people familiar with the matter, Bloomberg News reported. Fulvio Conti, 71, was appointed as chairman last year in a list proposed by Elliott Management Corp. as part of a board reshuffle won by the U.S. activist investor against the French media-conglomerate Vivendi SA. Conti’s resignation hasn’t been finalized and is expected to be discussed at a Sept. 26 board meeting, the people said.

Italy’s prime minister has called on Brussels to allow Rome “a little bit of time” to cut its debt by investing in economic growth, in his first meeting with the incoming president of the European Commission, the Financial Times reported. Giuseppe Conte, who was this week sworn in by lawmakers as the leader of Italy’s new coalition government, said that he would not pursue policies that would risk financial stability after a meeting in Brussels on Wednesday with Ursula von der Leyen, the commission’s incoming head.

A prolonged shadow-banking crisis and hurdles in bankruptcy rules are set to keep India atop the world’s worst bad-debt pile, even as Italy, which held the title previously, quickens the clean-up of its lenders, Bloomberg News reported. Moody’s Investors Service to Credit Suisse Group AG. warned that more loans may sour in the Asian nation’s banking system. More than 2.4% of total loans in India’s banking system may be under stress on top of the 9.6% bad debt ratio as of June, the highest among major economies, Credit Suisse estimates shows.

La Perla, the indebted Italian lingerie brand owned by Lars Windhorst’s investment company, will list its shares on the Paris stock exchange to help access capital at a difficult time, Bloomberg News reported. La Perla, which has stores in London’s Sloane Street and St. Tropez, won’t raise any funds through the move, but the listing “will increase La Perla’s visibility and enhance access to capital," according to Chief Executive Officer Pascal Perrier. The company aims for a market capitalization of 473 million euros ($520 million) when shares are set to begin trading Friday in Paris.

Italian bonds surged to take benchmark yields to a record low as talks progressed to form a new government, reducing the political risk of fresh elections for investors, Bloomberg News reported. Ten-year yields fell below 1% for the first time and their premium over Germany, a key gauge of risk in the nation, touched the lowest level since May last year when the previous coalition was being formed.