Et Cetera

PLASTIC RELIEF

Citibank, largest issuer of credit cards in the U.S., announced that as of June 1 it will reward its best customers with lower credit-card interest rates -- as little as 13.9% for Preferred Members. Other banks will probably follow, taking the bite out of congressional complaints about high rates and starting a war that consumers can win.

A TITAN FELLED

Italy's biggest postwar financial scandal brought down an industrial titan when Carlo De Benedetti, chairman of Olivetti, was sentenced to six years and four months in prison for complicity in the 1982 collapse of Banco Ambrosiano, Italy's largest private bank. He promises an appeal.