TODAY’S HEADLINES IN BRIEF: WERE PETROL PRICES ALSO RIGGED? LIBOR SCANDAL SPREADS TO NEW BANKS & NEW PENSION RIP-OFF.
DAILY TELEGRAPH
WAS THE PETROL PRICE RIGGED TOO?
By Rowena Mason, Emma Rowley
Motorists may have been paying too much for their petrol because banks and other traders are likely to have tried to manipulate oil prices in the same way they rigged interest rates, an official report has warned. Politicians and fuel campaigners last night urged the Government to expand its inquiry into the Libor scandal to see whether oil prices have also been falsely pushed up. Petrol retailers use oil price “benchmarks” to decide how much to pay for future supplies. The rate is calculated by data companies based on submissions from firms which trade oil on a daily basis – such as banks, hedge funds and energy companies.
CIT AM
LIBOR CRISIS SPREADS
By Tim Wallace
Lloyds became the latest UK bank to be dragged into the ongoing Libor scandal over the weekend, after the New York Fed made public emails sent by Barclays staff to the US authorities that accuse Lloyds of entering false Libor submissions in mid-2007. A swathe of previously unseen documents also show Bank of England governor Sir Mervyn King and US Treasury secretary Tim Geithner discussed problems in the way Libor was set in early 2008,
WWW.BBC.CO.UK
BARCLAYS: 'OTHER BANKS TO FACE LIBOR REVELATIONS'
Senior managers at Barclays have warned staff in an internal memo that the Libor scandal will envelop other banks. The memo circulated on Friday said that revelations about its rivals would "put in perspective" Barclays' culpability. Meanwhile Barclays' former chief operating officer Jerry del Missier will answer MPs' questions on Monday.
GUARDIAN
PENSION INDUSTRY DENIES LABOUR CLAIMS OF RIPPING OFF SAVERS
By Phillip Inman, economics correspondent
Association of British Insurers accuse ministers of using outdated information and focusing on specialist schemes. The long-running dispute between Labour and the pensions industry boiled over in advance of proposals by opposition ministers for an overhaul of occupational retirement schemes and personal pension saving. Labour said the industry worked against the interests of ordinary savers in key areas and was in need of reform.
DAILY EXPRESS
OUTRAGE AT PENSION RIP-OFF
By Anil Dawar
Millions of Britons are being unwittingly caught in a billion-pound pensions rip-off, experts warned last night. Savers with older plans are losing out from eye-watering annual fees of up to four per cent, so steep they could be making pension pots smaller. But those affected are blocked from swapping to cheaper plans by crippling penalties. Exit fees of up to 20 per cent make changing to a better performing fund non-viable.
FINANCIAL TIMES
EUROPE’S BANKS FACE TOUGHER DEMANDS
By Patrick Jenkins, Banking Editor
The head of Europe’s top banking regulator has raised the bar for lenders’ capital requirements, insisting that the 9 per cent capital ratio they had to hit as a “temporary buffer” by June is to become permanent. Andrea Enria, chairman of the European Banking Authority, said “capital conservation” was his priority, with the eurozone crisis persisting and the six-year phase-in of Basel III global capital standards set to begin next year.
THE SCOTSMAN
WEAKENING JOBS GROWTH UNDERSCORES FRAGILITY OF SCOTLAND’S ECONOMY
By Scott Reid
Fresh doubts about the strength of Scotland’s economic recovery emerged today after a key report signalled the weakest labour market conditions in six months. The number of people being placed in permanent jobs rose for the sixth consecutive month in June, but was at the slowest pace since the start of the year, according to the latest Bank of Scotland Report on Jobs.
DAILY MAIL
G4S COULD BE QUIZZED BY CITY REGULATORS OVER OLYMPICS FIASCO
By Rupert Steiner
Embattled security firm G4S could be quizzed by City regulators over what it told the market about its Olympics fiasco and when. A probe will heap further pressure on chief executive Nick Buckles who was clinging on to his job over the weekend after admitting the firm stands to lose up to £50m from its doomed contract to provide security for the Games.
