Thursday newspaper round-up: Mortgages, Xstrata, Anglo American

9th Jul 2009 06:11

Negative equity mortgages are being offered to customers of Nationwide that will allow homeowners once again to borrow more than the value of their intended house purchase. Nationwide has begun offering its customers suffering from negative equity a mortgage that provides up to 125 per cent of a property's value, should they want to move, says the FT.Xstrata's proposed £40 billion merger with Anglo American has effectively collapsed after Anglo's shareholders rejected the approach. All of Anglo's leading institutional investors are understood to have turned down Xstrata's nil-premium merger of equals. Those shareholders that have expressed an opinion on pricing have told the Times that they want a premium of between 30 per cent and 50 per cent to complete the deal.The Swiss government on Wednesday waded into the legal battle between UBS and the US authorities by saying it would forbid the bank from handing over confidential client information, if a crucial court case next week required it. Bern warned it might go as far as confiscating the data, should a US court in Miami rule the bank was obliged to transfer the client names requested, writes the FT.Aviva shares were under renewed pressure last night after it emerged that 12 leading insurance analysts had forecast that it would cut its dividend next month by between 25 and 50 per cent, reports the Times.The Bank of England's Monetary Policy Committee (MPC) is expected to leave interest rates unchanged at 0.5pc and to increase its programme of quantitative easing by £25bn to £150bn today, according to the Telegraph.Mervyn King has been given the green light to go head-to-head with and publicly bully the Treasury and Financial Services Authority into taking action to avoid future crises, under new plans laid out by the Treasury. The Bank of England Governor will be encouraged to use his seat on the newly-created Council for Financial Stability to advise the FSA on when and how to clamp down on the most risky banks. His warnings will be publicly released, giving him the opportunity to chide the banking regulators into being harsher or more lenient on firms as the economy demands, writes the Telegraph.AIG has rekindled talks with MetLife, its US rival, over the sale of American Life Insurance Company, one of the jewels in its crown, in a move that could help the stricken insurer raise more than $15bn to repay the $80bn it currently owes US taxpayers, says the FT.Primark's director of international trading has quit after less than a year, at a time when the discount fashion retailer is cranking up its European expansion programme. The high street chain, owned by Associated British Foods, announced the departure of Guy Young, who was also responsible for buying stock for the company's overseas stores, to staff last week, reports the Independent.Six former executives and brokers of Sky Capital, a New York brokerage, have been charged with a $140m transatlantic "boiler-room" fraud that law enforcers say reeled in UK and US investors, according to the FT.The Competition Commission will continue its campaign against payment protection insurance (PPI) schemes, which consumer lobby groups have long condemned for their loopholes and poor value for money, says the Independent.EU anti-competition authorities yesterday said they would act against pharmaceuticals groups that were suspected of delaying the launch of new medicines, adding that a lack of competition was harming patients and taxpayers, writes the Independent.The UK is heading for an "energy crunch" after new oil and gas exploration in the North Sea dropped 57pc in the first half of this year, according to the Telegraph. IBM has become the latest company planning to turn its back on final salary pension payouts. The computer systems group is consulting staff about proposals to close its UK scheme, which would affect 5,000 employees, reports the Independent.