Thursday newspaper round-up: RBS, Co-op, Annuities

10th Apr 2014 07:08

Royal Bank of Scotland secured a landmark deal with the European Union last night which paves the way for it to eventually begin repaying dividends to shareholders. Under the EU ruling, RBS will pay the UK government 320 million pounds in the next 45 days and the remaining 1.18 billion pounds over a period of time, allowing the Treasury's golden share to be retired. - The Scotsman The future of the Co-operative Group was thrown further into confusion last night after one of its most senior board members resigned. The departure of Lord Myners, the former City minister, from the mutual organisation comes after days of heavy criticism over his plans for reform. Midcounties, Britain's largest independent co-operative society, voted unanimously this week not to support the changes. - The TimesThe first hard evidence has emerged that sales of annuities have slumped in the three weeks since George Osborne announced his seismic reform to pensions. Just Retirement, a specialist annuity provider, reported that the shock Budget measure "has had a material effect on individually underwritten annuity volumes" and warned that it would not meet the sales growth target of 7% for its full year that had been flagged in February. - The TimesThe Eurozone debt crisis is deepening and threatens to re-erupt on a larger scale when the liquidity cycle turns, a leading panel of economists warned in a clash of views with German officials in Berlin. "Debts above 130% of GDP for Italy and 170% for Greece are a recipe for disaster once we go into the next downturn," said Professor Charles Wyplosz, from Geneva University. - The Daily Telegraph Britain's property market recorded the highest level of sales in more six years over the first three months of this year - but the surge came with a health warning from the Royal Institution of Chartered Surveyors (Rics). Surveyors sold an average of 22.7 homes each in the three months to March - the highest number since February 2008 - with strength in the market spread throughout the UK, according to the Rics. - The GuardianAB