DAILY TELEGRAPH
RBS traders boasted of Libor cartel
By Steven Swinford and Harry Wilson
Internal messages revealed in court documents apparently show how traders claimed they could manipulate Libor, which is used to set borrowing costs for millions of businesses, consumers and investors.
The messages, some sent just months before the taxpayer was forced to bail out RBS at a cost of more than £40bn, suggest the practice was condoned and encouraged by senior executives at the bank, and have now dragged the taxpayer-backed lender to the heart of the Libor scandal.
CITY A.M.
Banking industry calls for tough Libor punishments
By Tim Wallace
Bankers who manipulate key interest rate Libor should face tougher personal fines in future, according to the industry body that oversees the benchmark rate.
A leaked letter written by British Bankers’ Association (BBA) boss Anthony Browne urges top regulator Martin Wheatley to ban rate-fixers from working in the industry again, and to name and shame those who have broken the rules.
FINANCIAL TIMES
Mortgage lending rises markedly
By Claire Jones, Economics Reporter
Banks and building societies upped their mortgage lending over the summer and expect to provide more credit to British households over the course of the rest of the year, according to a Bank of England survey.
The Bank’s credit conditions survey, published on Wednesday, said lenders reported a “marked” increase in the amount of secured credit extended to households. When polled in the spring, lenders said they expected no change.
THE SCOTSMAN
Bank moves could lead to increase in mortgages
Britain’s big lenders are planning to hike mortgage lending over the next three months as the Bank of England moves to ease credit conditions.
Banks reported the biggest increase in the availability of mortgages during the three months to early September since the quarterly report began, and plan a further record rise.
However, most of the products were aimed at borrowers with large deposits and the Bank of England noted that credit-scoring criteria tightened over the quarter.
DAILY MAIL
Average Briton has just seven years of complete 'financial freedom'
The average British adult has just seven years of complete financial freedom to look forward to, a report revealed yesterday.
Researchers found the majority of us will only enjoy a brief ‘window of wealth’ between the ages of 58 and 65. This is the point at which debts have been cleared, kids have left home and a full-time wage still lands in the bank every month.
But just seven years later regular income ceases and we will be forced to live on a reduced retirement income.
THE GUARDIAN
Flood waters raise fears over home insurance
By Lisa Bachelor
In a week when hundreds of households have had their homes swamped by water, a war of words has broken out between the government and the insurance industry over paying for affected properties.
Householders in flood-risk areas should by now have the peace of mind of knowing their properties are still insurable under an agreement between the government and the insurance industry.
SKY NEWS
G4S Wields Axe Over Olympics Chaos
By Mark Kleinman
The security contractor G4S will this week confirm the extent of its failure to meet its commitment to police the London Olympics by sacking at least one of its top executives.
I have learned that the future of David Taylor-Smith, G4S’s chief operating officer and head of its UK and Africa operations, is to be discussed at a board meeting on Thursday . Senior insiders said tonight that they expected him to leave in the wake of the meeting and that he would "carry the can" for the Olympics fiasco, which left the company facing intense public and political criticism.
THE SUN
Train Fair
By Steve Hawkes, Business Editor
Rip-off hikes in train fares were yesterday blasted as wrong — by a top official at the Bank of England.
Paul Fisher said ministers should change the formula that bases yearly ticket price rises on the Retail Price Index (RPI) measure of inflation.
He warned that linking price rises in any sector to the “out-turn” of inflation simply “embedded” it in the system - causing more pain for families.
BBC.CO.UK
Spain budget to impose 39bn euros of austerity cuts
Spain is due to enact its austerity budget for 2013 on Thursday, against a backdrop of a deteriorating economy and 25% unemployment rate.
Madrid is expected to set out 39bn euros ($50bn; £31bn) worth of savings, tax rises, and structural reforms. It comes amid further protests this week, and growing expectations that Spain will seek a bailout from its eurozone partners.
DAILY EXPRESS
Pain in Spain rocks FTSE
By David Shand
Banks and mining stocks bore the brunt of a £23billion sell-off of leading UK shares yesterday as a sharp slowdown in Spain’s economy heightened concerns over the eurozone debt crisis.
The FTSE 100 plunged 91.62 points to 5768.09, although its losses paled against the near-4 per cent reverse in shares in Spain...
DAILY MIRROR
'Help us drive car boom': Experts call for Government to boost UK motors industry
The buoyant UK car industry is set to fuel a jobs bonanza – but motor bosses demanded Government cash to stop the boom fizzling out.
Soaring production could add up to 50,000 more jobs to the industry’s 140,000-strong workforce in the next four years, experts say.
THE INDEPENDENT
Germany raises doubts about BAE-EADS deal
By Toby Green and Tom Bawden
The £30bn mega-merger between the UK defence giant BAE Systems and the European aerospace group EADS faced opposition yesterday from German politicians who warned that getting the go-ahead for the proposed tie-up was not guaranteed.
FINANCIAL TIMES
Rowling and Oliver clash for Christmas sales
By Robert Budden and Isabel Berwick
A long-anticipated tale of class snobbery in the West Country could end up being outsold by a celebrity chef from Essex as publishers vie to top the lucrative Christmas book best-seller chart.
Thursday’s launch of The Casual Vacancy, the first novel for adults from Harry Potter author JK Rowling, shares a release date with Jamie Oliver’s 15 Minute Meals. The chef has produced the UK’s number one selling book for the previous two Christmases.
HAPPENING TODAY
The decline in national output in the second quarter was first estimated at 0.7% quarter-on-quarter but this was then revised down to 0.5%. In today’s revised figure IHS Global Insight reckon there is a very good chance that second-quarter GDP contraction will be trimmed further to 0.4%. GDP was dragged down in the second quarter by the extra day’s public holiday for the Queen’s Diamond Jubilee celebrations and by very wet weather hitting construction activity and retailing. Excluding these factors, underlying economic activity was likely essentially flat in the second quarter.
Catering giant Compass Group is reckoned to serve more than 4 billion meals a year, with clients including schools, colleges and places like Costa Coffee. In this trading update it’s expected to be continuing to buck the downward trend, which has seen it grow its profits by around 7% even in this time of austerity.
