Thursday newspaper round-up: RBS, Citigroup, UBS

13th Aug 2009 06:12

Royal Bank of Scotland, which is 70% taxpayer-owned, has spent more than £10 million hiring two bankers, in a move that may further inflame the row over City bonuses, says the Times.RBS has poached Antonio Polverino, a star banker from Merrill Lynch, on a £7 million one-year package. Its new finance director, Bruce Van Saun, is joining from Bank of New York Mellon next month on a multimillion-pound salary. US regulators have forced Citigroup to hire external consultants to consider whether its current management is up to the job of leading the troubled bank out of the financial crisis, in a decision that intensifies pressure on its top executives and board, writes the FT.UBS, the Swiss bank, is expected to disclose the identities of thousands of its American clients with offshore accounts after agreeing a settlement with the US Department of Justice (DoJ) over allegations of tax evasion, reports the Times.The US Federal Reserve has heralded a "levelling out" of the American economy as financial markets and consumer spending continue to stabilise. America's central bank on Wednesday held interest rates at the existing range of 0-0.25% in order not to throw America's economic burgeoning recovery off course, as it warned that "economic activity is likely remain weak for a time", according to the Telegraph.Vestas, the wind-turbine maker, closed two factories on the South Coast yesterday with the loss of 425 jobs, says the Independent.John Paulson, the hedge fund manager who made billions of dollars betting against subprime mortgages and shorting bank stocks during the past two years, has bought close to 2 per cent of Bank of America in what appears to be a strong endorsement of a bellwether financial institution, writes the FT.Microsoft and Nokia announced an alliance to bring advanced business software to smartphones in an attempt to counter the dominance of Research in Motion's BlackBerry devices and the growing threat from the Apple iPhone, reports the Times.Britons who avoid paying tax by holding their savings in offshore accounts are being targeted by the authorities in a new attempt to gain details held by more than 300 banks, according to the Guardian.Signs of investor fatigue with rights issues are emerging even as markets brace for a further wave of cash calls, with recent equity raisings by European companies underperforming deals from earlier in the year. The stock performance of big equity issuers after April has lagged behind the stellar gains of shares in companies that launched rescue rights issues in the first quarter, new research by analysts at UBS's special situations group shows, says the FT.The number of British customers at Bupa, the private medical group, is falling at its fastest rate for 12 years as rising unemployment and recession pushes hordes of policy-holders to ditch their cover, writes the Independent.The managing director of Aldi in Britain left the discount retailer on Wednesday in an unexpected departure. Paul Foley departed with immediate effect and "by mutual consent" after a 20-year career with the German group. He will be replaced by Armin Burger, an Aldi executive who previously had run its operations in Austria. The announcement comes after a dramatic tailing-off in Aldi's sales growth, reports the Times.