Monday paper round-up: Election, Royal Bank of Scotland, ITV

29th Mar 2010 06:34

The Conservatives will try to seize the electoral initiative today with a pledge to reverse part of Labour's national insurance rise due to come into effect next year. After several weeks in which the Tory poll lead has narrowed, George Osborne, the Shadow Chancellor, will announce that the party will cut the cost for employees and employers, who each face a 1% increase in contributions from April 2011, the Times reports.Royal Bank of Scotland has handed middle managers a bonus equivalent to 5pc of their salary - by backdating an increase in "benefits" to January 2009. Thousands of RBS staff have received the backdated addition to their "value account", which is usually used to buy benefits such as health care or a company car. Unused sums are typically paid in cash to employees at the end of the tax year, the Telegraph reports.A raid by Barclays on the pension benefits of 17,000 branch and other frontline staff has been used to offset the bonus tax for its high-earning investment bankers. Details buried in the annual accounts show that the bank made a £371m profit last year from closing its UK final salary scheme to existing members. After a £150m "voluntary" top-up to help clear the deficit, the net profit from the move was £221m. The figure is almost exactly equivalent to the £225m bonus tax paid to cover the £2.2bn of awards to its 23,200 Barclays Capital staff, the Telegraph reports.Britain should be prepared to "go it alone" with radical reforms to the banking system in the wake of the £1.2 trn bailout of the industry if a cross-border deal cannot be achieved, an influential committee of MPs will recommend today. The Treasury Select Committee will also call on the Government to look again at restricting the types of business that deposit takers can do in the wake of moves by US President Barack Obama to enforce "narrow banking", the Independent reports.The UK's "largest-ever" investigation into insider trading in the City of London centres on interlinked chains of individuals allegedly making as much as £20m from dealing in the shares of a number of companies, including Scottish & Newcastle. The alleged ring is suspected by the Financial Services Authority of making about £4.1m alone by trading in S&N shares during its £7.8bn takeover by rival brewers Heineken and Carlsberg in late 2007, according to people familiar with the investigation, the FT reports.The rescue package for Greece agreed by the European Union last week is expected to reassure international financial markets as Athens prepares to launch a syndicated bond Monday or Tuesday, European politicians and bankers said yesterday. Greek bankers hope the EU package, together with the European Central Bank's move to extend its liquidity operations, will help reverse a flight of deposits from Athens-based institutions since January, the FT reports.British Gas is to put smart meters in a million homes this year as part of an ambitious programme that will create 2,500 jobs and could cut household energy bills by at least £1bn over the next ten years. The meters monitor energy consumption as it is used and send the information directly to suppliers over wireless networks, the Times reports.China's ambitions for global growth were underlined yesterday when Ford agreed to sell Volvo Cars to Zhejiang Geely Holding, the country's largest private carmaker. The £1.2bn deal, signed in Gothenburg, marks the biggest acquisition yet of an overseas carmaker by a Chinese company. China's ambitions for global growth were underlined yesterday when Ford agreed to sell Volvo Cars to Zhejiang Geely Holding, the country's largest private carmaker. the Times reports.Siemens will this week announce plans to build a wind turbine factory in the UK. The investment, which is likely to be between £50m and £100m, will seek to capitalise on Britain's expanding market for offshore windmills and will put the German engineering giant in head-to-head competition with GE, its American rival, the Times reports.Commercial broadcasters could net millions of pounds from a shake-up of advertising rules that could be announced today. Ofcom is expected to propose that ITV, Channel 4, Five and S4C should be allowed to limit the advertising minutes that they sell between programmes, which could push up the price. At present, public service channels must sell all of their advertising minutes ? an average of seven and a maximum of twelve per hour, the Times reports.About 17,000 people working in the financial services industry will have lost their jobs in the first half of this year, according to a report by the CBI. The findings were published as fears grew of a new surge in unemployment across businesses generally, the Times reports.