Thursday's newspaper round-up: Alistair Darling, Lloyds, RSA

3rd Sep 2009 06:53

International complacency risks plunging the world into a double-dip recession, the Chancellor, Alistair Darling, warned yesterday, according to the Independent.Alistair Darling is scrambling to plug a gaping hole in the $1.1 trillion global rescue package agreed by G20 leaders in London ? hailed at the time as Gordon Brown's biggest success, writes the Times.Plans by Lloyds Banking Group to raise new capital and reduce its reliance on the state-backed "toxic" debt insurance scheme are being stress-tested by the Financial Services Authority to establish if they are viable, according to the Telegraph.Leading shareholders in insurer RSA are prepared to back the company's chief executive if he pushes ahead with plans to raise $1bn (£614m) in a rights issue, says the Telegraph.Incisive Media, the business-to-business publisher, is splitting into two. Apax Partners, its private equity owner, will keep control of the American Lawyer Media business in the US, while banks will take over the struggling UK arm, reports the FT.The world's biggest banks should be made to draw up plans that can be put into practice if they fail, the chairman of the Financial Services Authority (FSA) said yesterday, reports the Times.Investors in Berkeley Group should reject the appointment of Tony Pidgley, the founder, as executive chairman and throw out the boardroom pay package because of "wide-ranging corporate governance concerns", according to Pirc, the investment consultancy, writes the FT.Senior directors of KeTech Group were aware of the pensions black hole at several of its subsidiaries ahead of the £2m refinancing that saw taxpayers rescue the group, writes the Telegraph.Hiring an outside pay consultant can almost double the pay of a FTSE 100 company boss compared with businesses that set their own pay policy, research carried out for The Times shows.ITV has sold the format of its highly successful Prime Suspect series of police dramas to the US broadcaster NBC in a sign of how British broadcasters are breaking further into the American market, writes the FT.Greg Hutchings has increased his stake in Lupus Capital to almost 11 per cent in a sign that he may be trying to stage a return to the building materials company, from which he was ousted as executive chairman in July, according to the FT.A City stockbroker has become the first individual to be fined for failing to report or stop a client who was engaged in insider dealing, the Financial Services Authority said, reports the FT.Some of the best-known companies in Britain are causing the closure of 4,000 small businesses because of the late payment of invoices, according to research published yesterday by the Federation of Small Businesses (FSB), writes the Independent.After more than nine months of bitter wrangling, YouTube has agreed a licensing deal with British songwriters that will see thousands of music videos return to the online video site, says the Independent.The chief executives of Britain's biggest internet providers have united to criticise Lord Mandelson's "misconceived" plans to disconnect users who illegally download music and films, writes the Times.General Motors has conceded for the first time that it is unlikely to agree a deal to sell a majority stake in Opel and Vauxhall before the end of September, says the Telegraph.BMW plans to build two new Mini models at its plant near Oxford, southern England, in a vote of confidence in UK manufacturing and a significant boost for Britain's hard-pressed motor industry, says the FT.Tisbury Capital, one of London's biggest hedge funds that was brought to the brink of collapse last year, is planning to launch a new fund, says the Times.The Cayman Islands, the Caribbean territory that is home to most of the world's hedge funds, on Wednesday pledged to protect its financial sector in spite of considering harsh measures to stave off a budget crisis, reports the FT.