Stories

  • Price and prejudice

    Unicredit Tower and Matteo Salvini

    Unicredit has made a big move in Italian banks’ “Risiko”, launching a bid to conquer Banco Bpm, and becoming the third bank in Europe by market capitalization. Unicredit is willing also to reach an agreement in Germany, where in September – with a blitzkrieg – became the second largest shareholder of Commerzbank and would like to go on, taking over it and promoting the merger. Andrea Orcel, CEO of Unicredit, is daring to fly high and his moves are well appreciated by the financial community, despite today the price proposed for Banco Bpm is being considered a little too ungenerous.
    On the political side, you could count on a negative reaction by the German government at the time of the blitz on Commerzbank, also because Unicredit has bought part of the shares put up for sale by the government itself without informing it until after the fact. But no one could imagine that a leader of the Italian government, Vice Premier Matteo Salvini, was so shocked today by the offer on Banco Bpm to declare – despite logic and truth – that “Unicredit has little or nothing Italian about it anymore: it is a foreign bank” and to attack Banca d’Italia (the Italian central bank) asking “What does it do? Does it exist? What does it say? Does it monitor? Since they are among the highest paid in Italy, as an Italian citizen I would like to know if everything is under control“.
    The well-paid Italian Vice Premier probably does not know what everyone else knows: Unicredit – like every big bank in Europe – is regulated and supervised by the European Central Bank (ECB). Ignorance and prejudice are well-stoned in Italian politics, but Salvini is entering the Guinness.

    Iroshizuku

  • Stamps’ resurrection

    Nowadays, very few people write letters, mailboxes are disappearing, and stamps seem obsolete. You might think that stamps will soon vanish as well: wrong conclusion. 
    Poste Italiane has set a new record by becoming the world’s first issuer of a philatelic NFT (Non-Fungible Token, NDR) product.  Purchasing one of the 400 box sets of physical stamps called “Posta Prioritaria Collezione Gialla“, you get free the “digital twin” allowing you to download it into your digital wallet. This is a modern attempt to revive something that feels old-fashioned and nearly useless. It also aims to create a niche market specifically for NFT stamps. If you’re a collector, this might be appealing. However, if you’re not one (assuming you can find a mailbox nearby), good luck sending a postcard to your friends with your NFT attached!

    Iroshizuku

  • What’s better than a fresh banana?

     

    "Comedian" by Maurizio Cattelan

    As the Ukrainian war escalates, stock and bond markets are quite nervous. The Kremlin states that it is making maximum effort to avoid a nuclear conflict; at the same time, it is reported to have fired an intercontinental ballistic missile at Ukraine for the first time since the war began, and its air defense has shot down two British-made Storm Shadow missiles.
    Art can be a solid and valuable investment as well as a source of comfort in difficult times. So, a cryptocurrency entrepreneur bought Comedian“, a provocative work of conceptual art by Italian artist Maurizio Cattelan, for $6.2 million at a Sotheby’s auction in New York. The buyer will receive a strip of silver duct tape, a fresh banana, a certificate of authenticity, and instructions for installation.

    Take-sumi

  • To Renovate is…

    Beppe Sala, Milan Major

    …to build up a skyscraper upon an old garage.

    A new urban planning standard was set in Milan. It will be approved very soon by the Parliament, and so it will gently spread throughout Italy with the chrism of the law.

    Iroshizuku