Thursday newspaper round-up: People's bank, LSE, Debenhams

23rd Jun 2011 06:47

Every adult in Britain could be given RBS and Lloyds shares worth hundreds of pounds under plans being considered by the Treasury to create a "people's banking system", Nick Clegg revealed yesterday. The Deputy Prime Minister has written to George Osborne, the Chancellor, to ask him to look at proposals that would create 46 million shareholders, three times as many as were made by Margaret Thatcher in the mass privatisations of BT, BP and British Gas in the 1980s, the Times reports.The London Stock Exchange and Canada's TMX Group have sweetened their merger proposal with a special dividend in a drive to win shareholder support against a rival bid by a group of Canadian financial institutions. The two exchange groups said the dividend - totalling 84.1p per share for existing LSE shareholders and C$4 per share for TMX shareholders - demonstrated the "financial strength and flexibility" of the proposed combined group, reports the Financial Times.Debenhams yesterday tabled a bid to acquire the stock and brand of the troubled women's fashion retailer Jane Norman, as the latter faces a huge quarterly rent payment tomorrow. The 15 banks behind Jane Norman put the chain up for sale this month by hiring PricewaterhouseCoopers, and are keen to complete a deal in the coming days, reports the Independent.The world's biggest bond investor said yesterday that Greece and other European economies would default on their debts. In a stark warning to the markets, the chief executive of Pimco Mohamed El-Erian said that this was the only way that the countries could resolve their problems, says the Times.Airbus has landed a record aircraft order, with a contract worth $15.6bn (£9.7bn) at list prices to supply 180 of the A320 family of jets to IndiGo, India's biggest low-cost carrier. The order, which firms up January's memorandum of understanding (MoU), includes 150 of the upgraded A320neo model - a design Airbus claims is 15% more fuel efficient thanks to a new engine and modified wingtips, known as "sharklets", reports the Telegraph.The energy watchdog Ofgem is to investigate a "potentially misleading" ScottishPower promotion that promised customers savings of £459 a year. The company's "Direct October 2012" package guaranteed prices at least 1 per cent lower than its standard direct debit deals until the end of September for people switching from rival energy suppliers, according to the Independent.The City of London is showing brazen disregard for rules to stop money laundering and is welcoming with open arms some of the world's most unsavoury political leaders and their cronies, according to a damning report by the Financial Services Authority. The detailed study showed a third of banks were willing to dismiss serious allegations of corruption made repeatedly by credible sources, while others claimed to have run extensive money-laundering checks even though they had failed to spot grave allegations of criminality instantly found by a simple Google search, says the Guardian.