WHAT THE OTHER PAPERS SAY THIS MORNING
FINANCIAL TIMES
US TAX AUTHORITIES TARGET BANK DEALS
US tax authorities are targeting cross-border finance deals worth billions of dollars between leading US and UK banks as they step up efforts to clamp down on abusive tax avoidance, a joint investigation by the Financial Times and ProPublica has found. Four US banks – BB&T, Bank of New York Mellon, Sovereign, and Wells Fargo – are in turn suing the US government over more than $1bn in tax credits that the Internal Revenue Service has disallowed over the past decade.
ABI TO PRESS COMPANIES ON BOARD PERFORMANCE
The ABI will this week issue their first set of guidelines on how companies can beef up board performance and repair the flaws in boardroom composition and succession planning that shareholders say can destabilise companies and create market uncertainty.
NETFLIX IN DREAMWORKS DEAL
Netflix, the DVD and online video subscription service, will this week try to bounce back from a torrid few months in which its shares have halved in value as it unveils a new streaming deal with DreamWorks Animation, the company behind the Shrek films. The deal could be announced as early as today, according to people familiar with the situation.
P&G CUTS SENIOR MANAGEMENT
Procter & Gamble, the world’s biggest consumer products group by sales, has thinned the ranks of senior managers by 10-15 per cent and is considering ways to restructure further as investors press it to improve profitability. Bob McDonald, P&G’s chairman and chief executive, told the Financial Times that P&G was also examining possible broader changes.
THE TIMES
STOCK EXCHANGE MUST PEG FEES TO WIN BACKING FOR TAKEOVER
The investment banks that own LCH Clearnet are pushing the London Stock Exchange to guarantee a cap on fees in exchange for control of the clearing house. The LSE, which is scrabbling to shore up its position in the face of a game-changing tie-up between NYSE Euronext in the United States and Deutsche Börse in Germany, emerged this month as the leading contender to buy the London-based clearing house.
COUNTRYSIDE CLOSED TO FIRST-TIME BUYERS
The door to home ownership in the countryside is open only to higher-rate taxpayers because of the construction slowdown, surging demand in the shires and the loan drought, according to research published today by Hometrack.
The Daily Telegraph
SAMSUNG MAY TRY TO BLOCK NEW IPHONE
Samsung is considering legal action that would block the sale of Apple’s next iPhone in the latest move in an increasingly acrimonious battle between the technology giants. The South Korean company is seeking an injunction to ban the forthcoming launch of the iPhone 5 in Europe as well as Korea on the basis that the US company has poached its technology.
YEMEN’S PRESIDENT IS DEFIANT
Ali Abdullah Saleh, Yemen’s defiant president, has addressed his troubled nation for the first time since returning to the country. Saleh made no promise to step down but said he was committed to a deal calling for him to do just that to end months of spiralling violence. He accused opponents demanding his resignation of a catalogue of crimes.
THE WALL STREET JOURNAL
EUROPE
GOVERNMENT PANEL TO DEMAND COST CUTS AT TEPCO
A government panel supervising Tokyo Electric Power is expected this week to call on the operator of the Fukushima Daiichi nuclear facility to match the efficiencies of famously lean operators like Toyota and produce sufficient profits to pay claims arising from the March 11 disaster.
KOREA REGULATOR SAYS BANKING SECTOR
The construction-financing and real-estate-loan troubles that brought down 16 savings banks this year aren’t likely to harm the rest of South Korea’s banking sector, the nation’s top financial regulator said yesterday.
Kim Seok-dong, chairman of the Financial Services Commission, said: “It can’t influence the whole financial sector of the country. So it’s OK to relax.”