Tuesday newspaper round-up: Royal Bank of Scotland, Barclays, BHP Billiton

4th Aug 2009 06:15

ANZ will buy Royal Bank of Scotland's operations in six Asian countries for US$550m (A$687m). ANZ will buy RBS's retail, wealth management and commercial businesses in Taiwan, Singapore, Indonesia and Hong Kong, as well as the UK bank's institutional banking businesses in Taiwan, the Philippines and Vietnam, the FT reports.Barclays is defying new curbs on City bonuses, it emerged yesterday, as it and HSBC revealed a return to bumper profits. Three investment bankers at Barclays have been guaranteed two years' worth of bonuses, despite rules recommending that such deals be banned. Barclays Capital, its investment arm, has also hired about 200 financiers, guaranteeing their bonuses for a year, reports the Times.Britain's leading banks were also under renewed pressure last night over lending and fees. Barclays and HSBC claimed that they had given out more than £30bn of new lending in the first six months of this year, but politicians and small business attacked them for doing too little and charging too much, the Times adds.Asian stock markets continued to surge on Tuesday after global equities soared to their highest levels of the year the previous day, buoyed by better-than-expected profits at Europe's biggest bank and growing confidence that the worst recession in decades may soon be over. In Tokyo, the Nikkei 225 average was up 1%to 10,462.61, the highest level since last October. The Hang Seng index in Hong Kong advanced to its highest level since last September, the FT reports.BHP Billiton, the world's largest mining company, is hoping to achieve a dignified transition of power in the boardroom having narrowed its shortlist for a new chairman to just two. Jac Nasser, the former head of Ford, and John Schubert, the current chairman of Australia's Commonwealth Bank, are understood to be the favoured candidates. Both are existing non-executive directors of BHP, the Times reports.Premium Bars & Restaurants, the AIM-listed owner of the trendy Living Room and Prohibition Bar & Grill chains, faces an uncertain future after the collapse of a sale of the company to the Reuben brothers. Although the Reubens are understood to remain interested, exclusive negotiations over a £48m deal fell apart at the end of last week after the men, who already own 32.5% of PBR, sought to alter the terms, the Times writes.The communications watchdog plans to crack down on mobile phone companies dragging their feet when customers want to switch their phone number to a rival, demanding it is carried out within hours rather than days. Ofcom yesterday published proposals to slash the time taken to transfer a number, saying parts of the process should speed up "significantly", reports the Independent.The Financial Services Authority, the chief UK markets regulator, has launched a wide-ranging study of the way the UK equity markets are being used, including how alternative trading platforms, "dark pools" and so-called "high frequency" traders function, the FT reports.A 25% increase in investment in Britain's electricity distribution networks to £1.3bn per year over the next five years has been given the green light by Ofgem, the energy regulator. The plans, set out by Ofgem in its proposals for price controls on electricity distribution for 2010-15, will add up to £20 per year to an average electricity bill by the end of the period, the FT reports.The Sunday Times is to set up its own website, and online readers may be charged to read articles from it. It would be the first time that a UK Sunday newspaper has set up its own site. Previously, they have always published under the same internet banner as daily sister titles, the FT reports.