UniCredit has priced the first ten-year bond from Italy's banking sector this year, which the Financial Times reports as "a sign of appetite for longer-dated risk in European credit markets". The senior unsecured bond, rated at triple B minus by Standard & Poor's, will yield just under 2.2 per cent; Italian ten-year government bonds are currently trading at a yield of 1.4 per cent. The bond is also eligible under the new TLAC rules (ie total loss-absorbing capacity), which aim to transfer risk from taxpayers and depositors to bondholders in the event of a bank failure. Visa Inc chief executive John Scharf has announced his resignation after four years in the job. He will be succeeded by former American Express president Alfred Kelly. Reuters reports that the highlight of Scharf's term was the company's acquisition earlier this year of its European affiliate, which had split from Visa Inc in 2007.