Sunday newspaper round-up: Tesco, Sainsbury, Standard Chartered

9th Nov 2014 13:59

Challenger banks Tesco Bank and Virgin Money are leading a drive to make banks charge for so-called free current accounts. They told the Competition and Markets Authority (CMA) that it should force through such a requirement to enhance competition and avoid the potentially misleading impression for bank customers that they are not being charged when indeed they may face charges on overdafts. This comes as Virgin Money prepares to float on the stock market this Thursday, The Mail on Sunday reports.Snapchat is near to closing a financing round that could value the digital start-up close to £7.5bn. The outfit is said to be talking to the likes of Yahoo, venture capital firm Kleiner Perkins Caufield & Byers as well private investors in Britain and over on the Continent. The company recently closed privacy loopholes as identified by the US Federal Trade Commission, pledged to clearly ask for consent before saving contact information and to adopt measures so that minors cannot access the controversial service, The Sunday Times writes.Months. That is how much time the embattled boss of Standard Chartered, Sir John Peace, has been given to revive the fortunes of the struggling lender or he will face the axe. He faces a pivotal test in that regard at the end of this week, when he will hold a three day meeting with investors in Hong Kong. It is thought that the bank - which has been hit by the slowdown in China and a jump in bad loans to miners and commodity firms - may increase its target for cost-cutting. There have also been worries that it might have to go cap in hand to shareholders, The Sunday Times says.Nick Bryant, formerly of Sky Television, is preparing to float PCG Entertainment this week. The AIM listing, which is expected in the next few weeks, will value the company at more than £60m. The firm will offer poker tournaments and lotteries to gamblers in China. Based in Gibraltar the company has already raised financing for the purchase of two local game operators in China, HPC and HLC, both of which are located in Hainan province, writes The Sunday Times.It remains to be seen whether a simple Christmas ad can stop the rot at Tesco. Nevertheless, there is keen interest in tonight´s debut of the grocer´s Christmas advert during the finale of ITV´s Downton Abbey. All the major retailers have been cramming their own Christmas spots on television over the past weekend in the countdown to the most important retail season of the year, which is expected to see UK companies shell out £1.5bn in advertising campaigns, says The Guardian on Sunday.The AA believes another 2p may come off the price of a litre of petrol as retailers pass on the benefits of a drop in the international price of crude oil. The petrol price war amongst supermarkets will also make itself increasingly felt, following recent moves by Sainsbury´s and Asda. This comes as Danny Alexander, the chief secretary to the Treasury, called on petrol retailers to pass on the savings from the drop in oil quotes to consumers as soon as possible, The Mail on Sunday says.Far from declining as expected, British banks´ bill from payment protection insurance (PPI) redress, recently spiked, as claims management companies upped the ante in their campaign to win compensation for their clients. So far the bill for PPI mis-selling stands at £17bn. Furthermore, the country´s four biggest lenders racked up another £1.54bn worth of provisions for the same in the third quarter, a 41% increase on the previous year´s figure, for a grand total of £22bn over the last four years. PPI pay-outs on the other hand declined by 16% in the first eight months of the year, writes The Sunday Daily Telegraph.Grocer J Sainsbury is to unveil the results of a strategic review this week which is meant to fight falling sales. The dramatic overhaul will see costs reined in to shore up its balance sheet and allow for investment in various growth initiatives. These include a reduction in prices and expanding the firm´s online, convenience store and clothing store presence. As well, the company is seen cutting its dividend, possibly by as much as a third, thus preempting the need for a rights issue, which is thought to have been ruled out, The Sunday Telegraph reports.Over 500 captains of business have inked their names on a letter calling on all political parties to pledge they will hold a referendum on the UK´s continued membership of the European Union by 2017. What´s more, they are asking for the current terms of the relationship to be torn up and renegotiated. The move follows the Prime Minister´s refusal to pay the £1.7bn budget surcharge recently brought forward by Brussels. More than 1,000 businessmen and women have now put their names to the campaign since it began 18 months ago, according to The Sunday Telegraph.Ahead of next week´s summit of G20 leaders in Brisbane the chairman of the Financial Stability Board, Dr. Mark Carney, will set out proposals to protect taxpayers´ from having to again foot the bill for the rescue of banks deemed "too big to fail". Amongst other measures, those institutions which choose to lend to the biggest banks will have to shoulder part of any such losses should they occur again. A total of 29 global banks will also be asked to issue billions of pounds in "bail-in" bonds, which would not pay out in the event of a repeat of the past financial crisis, says The Sunday Times.