Friday paper round-up: RBS, Barclays, BT

15th Jan 2010 06:34

Three British banks may have to pay more than $10bn (£6bn) to the US Government as part of its crackdown on financial institutions bailed out by taxpayers.Royal Bank of Scotland, which is 84% owned by the Government, may be on the hook for almost $1bn to the US over the next decade under a stringent new levy announced by the Obama Administration yesterday. Barclays could face a total bill of about $5.6bn over ten years, while HSBC may have to hand over $3.8bn, Joseph Dickerson, an analyst at Execution, calculated as the details of the US levy emerged, the Times reports.The FT adds that President Barack Obama slammed "obscene" bank bonuses on Thursday, as the US president formally revealed plans to impose a levy on big financial institutions to recoup some of the costs of the financial crisis. "We want our money back and we're going to get it," Obama said, pledging to "recover every single dime the American people are owed" for the troubled asset relief programme bail-out fund.The board of Omega Insurance, the Bermuda-based, Lloyd's of London insurer, finally looks set to face a vote from unhappy shareholders, who want to replace the chairman and add five new directors.Neil Woodford, the Invesco fund manager who holds 29% of the company, is filing a third requisition for a special general meeting to correct technical errors in earlier versions filed in December, which had allowed the company to ignore them, the FT reports.There is now more than a one-in-five chance of another asset price bubble implosion costing the world more than £1 trn, and similar odds of a full-scale sovereign fiscal crisis, a key report warned. Investors must steel themselves for the possibility of a second leg to the financial crisis, and should be equally prepared for a fiscal crisis, in which a major economy faces either default or a "sudden stop" in financing themselves on capital markets, according to the World Economic Forum, the Telegraph reports.Up to 20 companies have told the Ministry of Defence (MoD) of their interest in participating in the part-privatisation of the Royal Fleet Auxiliary (RFA) ? the Merchant Navy. The MoD had originally been looking to buy six new refuelling tankers for the RFA as part of a programme called Mars. However, an altered request for proposals issued at the end of last year had a much wider remit and the MoD is now considering leasing, chartering or even converting second-hand ships to save money, the Times reports.A Conservative government will examine shifting money from the international aid budget to part-fund a new military-backed "reconstruction force" for warzones such as Afghanistan in a major overhaul of national security funding. The proposal, made in a draft policy paper obtained by the FT, is part of a far-reaching shake-up of Britain's security architecture around a powerful new US-style national security council. David Cameron's team are set to unveil plans on Friday for a range of new security initiatives, including the creation of a "cyber-threat and assessment centre" to defend against the "massive cascading repercussions" of computer attacks, the FT reports.Cadbury shareholders have been left underwhelmed by Kraft chief executive Irene Rosenfeld's charm offensive, days before the final deadline for a raised bid from the US food maker. Mrs Rosenfeld has been visiting funds and holding conference calls over the past couple of days, trying to win over investors to the £10.5bn cash-and-shares offer, worth about 763p a share, the Telegraph reports.Institutional investors should force bidders for British businesses to be more open about their long-term plans for takeover targets and their employees, Lord Mandelson told a group of City executives yesterday. Speaking at a meeting between the Department for Business Innovation and Skills (DBIS) and senior executives from Standard Life, BP and Legal & General, Lord Mandelson also indicated his concerns about the risks of asset-stripping at British companies sparked in part by the £10.5 billion hostile bid for Cadbury by Kraft, the American food group, the Times reports.O2 is set to enter the fixed-line telecoms market where it will go head-to-head with BT nearly a decade after it was demerged from its former parent. The mobile phone company, now owned by Telefónica, the Spanish telecoms group, will bundle fixed-line calls into packages alongside its broadband and mobile products and offer discounts to customers who take all three services, the Times reports.DSG International, the owner of Currys and PC World, yesterday joined the ranks of companies that intend to close their lucrative defined-benefit pension schemes as it reported a surprisingly strong Christmas trading update. The retailer said that it had "entered consultation" over the closure of the defined-benefit scheme. The closure of the scheme to future contributions would affect 2,400 of DSG's 40,000 staff. It would not affect any benefits already accrued, the company said. The scheme has already been closed to new members, the Times reports.North Sea oil and gas exploration dropped by 35% last year, taking it back to levels last seen five years ago, according to figures published by Deloitte yesterday. Only 78 new wells were drilled in 2009, compared with 121 in 2008. Exploration activity was down by almost half, appraisals by a quarter. Meanwhile, new drilling in the Norwegian North Sea shot up by 18% last year thanks to a more generous tax regime, the Independent reports.