Monday newspaper round-up: G 20, Barcelona, Prudential

27th Feb 2012 06:36

A communique agreed by G20 finance ministers in Mexico City last night said a decision by Eurozone leaders to boost their own firewall was "essential" before any more external resources were allocated via the International Monetary Fund. (...) Germany's Wolfgang Schaeuble fired back: "Let me be clear. It does not make any economic sense [to take measures] which would neutralise the interest risk in the Eurozone, nor endlessly pumping money into stability funds, nor starting up the ECB printing press." Mr Schaeuble insisted the rescue efforts were adequate. "I dare to say that Europe has done its homework," he said, claiming the reduction of Eurozone bond yields in recent weeks "show we're on the right course". The G20 also used the communique to warn that "growth expectations for 2012 are moderate and downside risks continue to be high," The Telegraph reports. The threat to ARM Holdings' grip on the smartphone market has increased with Orange announcing plans for a budget smartphone - using an Intel chip. The new device, developed under the code name "Orange Santa Clara", will be the first Intel-based smartphone in Europe. It will target the lower end of the market and aims to "democratise" access to smartphones, Vincent Brunet, executive vice president of consumer mobile devices at Orange said ahead of the Mobile World Congress, which opens in Barcelona today. The details of the Santa Clara launch are unknown, but it will be available in the UK and France, and will position Orange to grow the number of customers using their mobiles to access the internet - the fastest growing part of the business, The Telegraph says. One of Prudential's institutional shareholders has warned of the dangers of the insurer moving its head office from London to Hong Kong to try to sidestep tough solvency rules being introduced in Europe in January. Robin Geffen, managing director of Neptune Asset Management, claimed such a move would raise questions about the "financial health" of the Pru and stir memories of the company's abortive $35bn (£24bn) bid for AIG's Asian arm, AIA, in 2010. Geffen's comments came amid speculation - undenied by Prudential - that Pru chief executive Tidjane Thiam had ordered the review of the company's UK domicile. Geffen, whose group has an undisclosable sub-3% stake in the insurer, told The Scotsman he had strong reservations about a move to Hong Kong. He said: "If this is a way of the group avoiding European solvency ratios, then investors would have every right to be worried. "If Prudential wants to head offshore in search of less stringent solvency rules then it would raise serious questions about the fundamental health of the business."The South Korean government is plotting another swoop on the North Sea in its quest to secure global supplies of oil, The Times has learnt. KNOC, the Korean national oil company, has approached Statoil about buying a large chunk of its oilfields. Executives from Seoul have flown to Norway to open negotiations. It is understood that Statoil rebuffed the initial unsolicited approach but that talks are continuing. One source said that KNOC had "billions of dollars" to clinch a deal. In 2010 KNOC bought the North Sea producer Dana Petroleum for £1.87bn in a hostile takeover. The deal, which many in the industry believe was overpriced, will enable KNOC to meet its target of doubling production to 300,000 barrels per day this year.Rolls-Royce is to form a safety committee following heavy criticism of the British manufacturer for its handling of an engine blow-out on a Qantas A380. The FTSE 100 company has hired City heavyweight Sir Frank Chapman, chief executive of BG Group, to chair the committee, which will be assembled this year. The move is the first public acknowledgement by Rolls of mistakes in the handling of the engine crisis. Rolls shares fell sharply after a Qantas A380 was forced to make an emergency landing in Singapore in November 2010 after its Rolls-made Trent 900 engine exploded in mid-air.(...) Safety committees are common in oil and gas companies and Rolls says Sir Frank will bring an "extensive engineering and technological background, and experience in a safety-conscious industry," The Telegraph writes. Royal Bank of Scotland might have to move its corporate headquarters to London if Scotland becomes independent, according to a leading economist.Professor Charles Goodhart, a former Bank of England policymaker, said that a Scottish government would not have sufficient fiscal firepower to support such a massive lender, and that the bank might therefore have to migrate to London. "There is no way the Scottish system could have bailed out RBS and they couldn't in future," he said. "For a variety of reasons RBS would probably need to shift its head office to London." If Scotland keeps the pound, it would not have the ability to set interest rates or print money, leaving it with few financial levers to operate in a crisis, analysts argue, The Times reports. The Mobile World Congress in Barcelona will enable the world's largest mobile phone makers to showcase their brightest innovations, such as 4G phones that offer lightning-fast speeds and handsets that work like credit cards. Yet an innovation that packs a whole mobile network neatly into a suitcase is poised to steal the show. Vodafone unveiled its "instant network" solution at last year's congress. It enables aid agencies to drop a mobile phone base station directly into a disaster zone from an aircraft. The company will beam images of the network directly into the conference, which starts today, from Kaikor in northern Kenya, where it is being used by the Red Cross. The network, which packs a base station into three suitcases weighing less than 100 kilograms, alleviates the need to ship in traditional telecoms kit, The Times says. AB