Wednesday newspaper round-up: Thomas Cook, Stress tests, Nokia...

23rd Nov 2011 06:10

Thomas Cook customers must make sure that they have "robust financial protection" following yesterday's news that the travel firm is in talks with its banks about funding, reports the Times. "Travel experts warned holidaymakers to ensure that they had a "triple lock" of protection in place to ensure they were not out of pocket or stranded abroad if the company went bust," the paper says.The US has announced stress tests for banking majors Bank of America, Citigroup, Goldman Sachs, JPMorgan Chase, Morgan Stanley and Wells Fargo on the back of fears that the Eurozone crisis will make the financial sector "more vulnerable to a major shock than at any time since Lehman Brothers collapsed in 2008," writes the Guardian. The paper says that the test will account for price and interest rate movements similar to those back in the financial crisis of 2008, and will also be based on "additional stresses related to the ongoing situation in Europe."Finnish mobile phone group Nokia is relocating its headquarters to London as part of a large restructuring programme, writes the Independent. "The company is making 4,000 job cuts globally and as part of the restructuring it will close its large head office in Farnborough and relocate to to an office in Paddington in central London," the paper says.According to the Financial Times, "Bankers' efforts to water down tougher new regulations by claiming they will harm economic growth are "intellectually dishonest and potentially damaging" and could inspire an even more robust crackdown, a leading UK regulator has warned." Robert Jenkins, part of the Financial Policy Committee, said that the lobbying strategy is "dishonest because it is untrue," writes the paper.According to the Telegraph, Malaysian property firm SP Setia is to acquire a majority stake in the landmark Battersea Power Station and will fund a £5.5bn redevelopment of the site. "The Far Eastern investor made a formal offer last week to the lending banks to buy their £300m of debt at around 85p in the pound, or £255m. But the lenders, who are considering the bid and have the power to pull the plug on the Battersea project, are unhappy with the price."Unsecured personal loan rates are at the lowest levels since November 2007, but only for those borrowing larger sums, reports the Daily Express. The paper, citing Moneysupermarket.com, says that while people taking a loan of £3,000 will pay around 15.15%, the average rate for loans of £7,500 is 6.79%, 1.48 percentage points down from last year.BC