Weekly Global News Wrap Up: Germany's mega-bank merger may cut around 30,000 jobs; Italy eyes renewing bad loan guarantee scheme

And JPMorgan launches checkless no-overdraft accounts.

From Bloomberg: The merger between Deutsche Bank and Commerzbank will need to discuss about 30,000 jobs which may be cut in the talks that could last for at least four weeks to prepare for the takeover.

Commerzbank has large holdings of Italian bonds, which may need to be revalued. On the other hand, Deutsche Bank’s U.S. political exposure and the future of its trading unit will be tough questions, too, one person said.

From Reuters: A draft law in Italy seeks to renew for up to 36 months a state guarantee scheme to aid banks in shedding bad loans and to tighten rules to increase protection for some investors.

In 2018 alone, Italian banks tapped the scheme to push 44 billion euros ($49.94 billion) in gross bad debt off their balance sheets, according to bad loan data provider Credit Village.

From CNBC: JPMorgan Chase began offering checkless accounts with access to its mobile app, branches and ATMs for $4.95 a month and no minimum balance. The accounts come with debit cards, digital payments and free check cashing, but do not allow overdrafts.

Fees for overdrafts generated significant revenue for banks in the past. They have angered customers, brought down the wrath of politicians and discouraged people with low incomes from using banks.