Monday newspaper round-up: Banks, Lord Myners, Virgin Media

3rd Aug 2009 06:17

Wall Street banks are reaping outsized profits by trading with the Federal Reserve, raising questions about whether the central bank is driving hard enough bargains in its dealings with private sector counterparties, officials and industry executives say, reports the FT. The Fed has emerged as one of Wall Street's biggest customers during the financial crisis, buying massive amounts of securities to help stabilise the markets, reports the FT.Opposition was growing on Sunday to radical proposals from Lord Myners, City minister, for a "two-tier" shareholder register that would see greater voting rights given to longstanding institutional investors. He said short-term investors should have reduced rights as owners, arguing that "companies are too important" for big investors to trade in and out, the FT reports. Bankers at Barclays' investment bank are set to see their pay and bonuses more than double to nearly £250,000 this year as their division reports bumper profits today. Barclays, which is among the first of the main high street banks publishing half-year results this week, is expected to report profits of £3.5bn in the half year to June, boosted by a strong performance of Barclays' Capital, its investment arm, the Times reports.Virgin Media is considering a secondary listing in London to end the mismatch between its stock market listing in the US and its geographic operations in the UK. The broadband and pay-television group, which is quoted on the US Nasdaq exchange and is worth $3.7bn (£2.2bn), has been reviewing its listing as it examines its capital structure, the Times reports. AstraZeneca is to join the exodus from central London to Paddington, as FTSE-100 companies and other large businesses head out to W2 to cut costs. The pharmaceuticals group is following Rio Tinto and Statoil, the Norwegian oil group ? and there are signs that other leading companies are looking to get out of the heart of the metropolis, the Times reports.Fears are growing that thousands of struggling British companies will be unable to rebuild and create jobs as a result of confusion over the state-backed insurance scheme for £585bn of the banks' "toxic" lending. Companies whose debt is declared "toxic" and is placed in the Asset Protection Scheme (APS) have been described as the "forgotten victims" of the bank rescue because they are trapped in a "restructuring limbo", unable to reconstruct their balance sheets to invest in growth and jobs, the Telegraph reports.The FTSE 100 had its best month in more than six years in July, boosted by a number of better-than-expected corporate earnings releases and hopes that the worst of the recession was now over. Derivatives traders are now betting that improving conditions would result in further price rises in metals and soft commodities, the Telegraph reports.Both suitors in the running for GM Europe will have to up their bids to win the support of the German government, economy minister Karl-Theodor zu Guttenberg said yesterday. A GM board meeting in the US this week is a key step in the battle for the group's European arm, which includes Opel in Germany and Vauxhall in the UK. The parent company is understood to prefer the offer from RHJ International, a private equity group, to that from preferred bidder, Canadian car parts maker Magna, backed by Russia's state-owned Sberbank, writes the Independent.Nisa-Today's, the buying co-operative for independent retailers, has rejected an offer from the family-owned Bibby Line Group, which is behind the Costcutter store chain, valuing the group at about £50m. The rejection comes as Liverpool-based Bibby Line - whose core business is shipping and logistics but which also owns 51 per cent of Costcutter - is about to lose its distribution contract with Scunthorpe-based Nisa, after it had been put out to tender, the FT reports.