Tuesday newspaper round-up: Lloyds, JJB, BAE Systems

11th Aug 2009 06:16

Lloyds Banking's tentative plans to raise an estimated £15bn-£20bn in a rights issue to reduce its reliance on the government face a wall of scepticism in Whitehall and among investors.Lloyds last week floated the idea that the terms of its participation in the government's asset protection scheme (APS) might be open to renegotiation after second-quarter results that were more upbeat than expected. "No one is pushing a line on this," one person close to Lloyds said on Monday. "We're just suggesting that maybe there's a different deal to be done," the FT reports.About 5,000 British investors with an estimated £2bn to £3bn in secret Liechtenstein bank accounts will be asked to come clean under a ground-breaking deal to be signed on Tuesday. HM Revenue & Customs wants to prise open the accounts by offering investors the chance to volunteer details of their deposits in return for limited penalties, the FT reports. The sovereign debts of Latvia and Estonia have been downgraded as the brutal slump plays havoc with public finances and tests commitment to euro currency pegs across the Baltic states. Standard & Poor's, the credit-rating agency, cut Latvia's rating to "BB" and warned that its economy will contract by a further 16% this year. The public debt will vault from 19% of GDP last year to 80% by 2011. "This very fast increase in debt is unprecedented," said Moritz Kraemer, S&P's head of sovereign ratings, the Telegraph reports.Chris Ronnie, the former chief executive of retailer JJB Sports, will meet with the Financial Services Authority (FSA) next month to give his version of the events that led to his dismissal from the chain. Mr Ronnie was fired from JJB in March for "gross misconduct" after it emerged his 27.5% stake had been seized by administrators to Kaupthing, the collapsed Icelandic bank, the Telegraph reports.Lord Myners has come under criticism from investors for suggesting that shareholders should be able to buy and sell their voting rights in companies. The Treasury minister's idea is the latest in a string of controversial proposals put forward recently in his efforts to spearhead reform of corporate governance practices. Since the publication of the Walker review of governance practices in the banking industry last month, Lord Myners has considered two-tier voting structures and greater disclosure of bank employee remuneration to the condemnation of companies and shareholders alike, the FT reports. Britain's financial markets regulator is ready to resist American-led pressure for tighter controls on trading in the London oil market. It is understood that the Financial Services Authority (FSA) invited up to 30 market participants, including traders, banks and funds, to a private meeting last Wednesday to discuss transparency and regulation in the oil market, the Times reports.Victims of Bernard Madoff's record-breaking fraud are hopeful of a major breakthrough in the case, with the disgraced Wall Street grandee's closest lieutenant expected to plead guilty today to playing role in the $65bn (£39bn) scam. Court papers suggest that Frank DiPascali has been helping prosecutors in an attempt to lessen his own sentence. Observers believe he could be the key to unravelling exactly how many other people were in on Madoff's fraud, the Independent reports.The Office of Fair Trading (OFT) has announced five senior appointments, including that of one of the architects of the Government's bailout of the banking sector, as part of a reshuffle at the consumer watchdog. Clive Maxwell, head of financial stability at HM Treasury, will join the OFT on secondment in October to run the watchdog's services division. His responsibilities will include overseeing the long-running test case on unauthorised bank overdraft charges, the Times reports.BAE Systems, Europe's largest defence company, captured £1.75 bn of new orders, even as it lost a £700m deal to supply frigates to Malaysia. The company secured a $1.9bn (£1.1bn) contract from the Pentagon to supply all-weather visibility systems for military vehicles and a £369.5m contract to supply torpedos to the Ministry of Defence. However, The Times has learnt that cost-cutting by the Malaysian Government had put paid to BAE's plans to supply the Royal Malaysian Navy with two ships.