What the other papers say this morning – 27 August 2013
FINANCIAL TIMES
MPs step up campaign to break up RBS
MPs are stepping up their campaign for a break-up of Royal Bank of Scotland amid suspicions in Westminster that RBS and Treasury officials will try to scupper a good bank-bad bank split.
In a letter in today’s Financial Times, the influential Parliamentary Commission on Banking Standards has said it is “important for all the options for [RBS’s] future structure to be examined as a matter of urgency”.
Nationwide steps back from SME loans
Nationwide, the UK’s largest building society, has delayed its launch into the small business banking market until 2016, dealing a blow to the government’s efforts to boost lending to these customers. The mutual has put on hold its plans to start offering loans to small- and medium-sized enterprises as it battles to meet tougher capital requirements set out by the financial regulator earlier this year.
UK markets head rejects EU guidance
The new UK markets supervisor has for the first time rejected formal EU guidance on financial regulations this summer, adopting alternative rules that favour bankers and brokers. The Financial Conduct Authority, which opened in April, has broken publicly with the formal EU interpretation of two different rules in the past three months, in moves which City experts linked to the government’s tougher stance on Europe.
THE TIMES
Christian Candy takes bite of Big Apple
The property developer behind One Hyde Park in Central London has alighted on the Upper East Side of New York for the latest expansion of his American business. Christian Candy has bought 19 East 70th Street for $35m.
Convenience stores struggle in capital
More than half of London’s convenience stores have reported a drop in sales in the three months to July compared with the same period last year.
A survey by the Association of Convenience Stores found 55 per cent of shops in the capital had reported a drop in sales.
The Daily Telegraph
John Lewis keen on Westfield London
The department store chain John Lewis is close to agreeing a deal to open its fourth London store at an extension of the Westfield shopping centre.
It is understood that the retailer is keen to open at the west London site but a final decision will be taken at board meeting for the John Lewis Partnership scheduled for next month.
US solar energy chief warns on power
The UK risks missing out on the benefits of solar power by focusing on sources such as nuclear, according to the Scottish entrepreneur Andrew Birch, who is behind Sungevity, one of America’s fastest growing retail solar panel companies.
THE WALL STREET JOURNAL
EUROPE
McGraw-Hill education CEO to retire
McGraw-Hill Education Chief Executive Lloyd Waterhouse plans to retire around the end of the year, the company said, just 18 months after taking the job.
Starbucks to serve coffee in Colombia
Starbucks is planning to open its first coffee shop in Colombia next year, using locally grown coffee.
The Seattle-based chain will open the first store in the capital city of Bogota and plans to open at least 50 there and in other cities throughout Colombia over the next five years. Many Colombian coffee farmers are currently on strike.