Monday newspaper round-up: FSA, Barclays, Xstrata

17th Aug 2009 05:58

The Financial Services Authority's efforts to strengthen its supervisory and enforcement work by recruiting hundreds more staff have been thrown off course by the Conservative party's plan to disband the regulator, says the FT.Since George Osborne, shadow chancellor, said last month he would shift the FSA's core supervisory role to a beefed-up Bank of England, and set up a Consumer Protection Agency to handle the rest of the body's work, the regulator has suffered a crisis of confidence affecting some top staff and potential recruits, according to headhunters, consultants and FSA insiders. The chief executive of Barclaycard, Antony Jenkins, was paid several million pounds in compensation for not receiving a promotion that he had been promised, the Times has learnt. The revelation comes amid rising tension in Barclays' retail and commercial bank and rumours that the division's management could be shaken up. Xstrata has stepped up its charm offensive aimed at Anglo American shareholders and analysts in an attempt to persuade them that cost savings alone justify the proposed tie-up between the two, and that a premium for the merger is not necessary, reports the Independent.Japan has climbed out of recession after the economy returned to growth in the second quarter, raising hopes that the worst of the financial crisis is over in the world's second-largest economy. Data released on Monday showed that GDP expanded 0.9 per cent quarter-on-quarter on a seasonally adjusted basis, following four quarters of contraction, writes the FT.Houses are at their most undervalued since the tail-end of the last housing slump in the 1990s, according to a key statistical indicator. The Lombard Street Research/Daily Telegraph housing affordability index shot deep into "affordable" territory in the first three months of the year - indicating that for homeowners who can get hold of credit now is a good moment to buy a house or trade up, according to the Telegraph.The eurozone economy may appear to be recovering faster than those of the US and UK, but its companies are underperforming their British and American rivals. Companies from the eurozone are the only ones, among the trio of regions, where there have been more disappointments than positive surprises in the ongoing second-quarter results season, according to analysts at Dutch bank ING, reports the FT.London's reputation as a global financial centre could be devastated if the Government changes the law to restrict the ability of banks to pay bonuses, it was claimed yesterday. Such a restriction would damage the City if similar laws were not implemented across the world, the British Bankers' Association (BBA) said, writes the Independent.Retailers are seeking a scrappage project for domestic appliances such as fridges. The British Retail Consortium (BRC) said that a plan similar to the "cash for bangers" scheme for the car trade would protect jobs and help Britain to hit carbon emission targets by encouraging people to switch to more energy-efficient white goods. It is also calling for tax relief on energyefficient items, says the Times.BSkyB has written to the BBC Trust expressing "serious concerns" about its handling of Project Canvas, the ambitious plan to create an internet-connected successor to Freeview, the free-to-air digital TV service that competes with Sky, according to the FT.Ministers have wasted millions of pounds on an apprenticeship scheme that has left thousands of young people out of work, according to the founder of the UK's largest independent plumbing company. The programme fronted by enterprise tsar Lord Sugar has cost £2.85m, but has filled only 1,185 vacancies out of 18,000 advertised, says the Telegraph.Iceland's parliament is close to approving the repayment of nearly €4bn ($6bn, £3.4bn) lost by British and Dutch savers in a failed Icelandic bank - but with a series of conditions that could yet cause the pact to unravel, writes the FT.Sir Fred Goodwin, the disgraced banker, has returned to his Edinburgh home for the first time since his self-imposed exile on the French Riviera began five months ago, reports the Times.