FINANCIAL TIMES
Barclays chief threatens to hit back
By Patrick Jenkins, Brooke Masters and George Parker
Bob Diamond is threatening to reveal potentially embarrassing details about Barclays’ dealings with regulators if he comes under fire at a parliamentary hearing on Wednesday over the Libor rate-setting scandal, according to people close to the bank’s chief executive.
“If he is attacked, he will fight back,” said one person familiar with preparations for the Treasury select committee hearing.
Such a confrontational tactic could aggravate the fraught relations between the bank and the authorities after Barclays paid £290m to settle an investigation by UK and US regulators over the bank’s involvement in manipulating key interbank lending rates.
THE GUARDIAN
David Cameron orders speedy bank inquiry
By Patrick Wintour and Jill Treanor
David Cameron has tried to fend off growing demands for a public inquiry into the loss of trust in British banking by announcing a quick parliamentary inquiry into professional and cultural standards in the industry.
Desperate to avoid being wrong-footed, as he was last summer over Labour calls for a public inquiry into phone hacking, Cameron and the chancellor, George Osborne, tried to seize the political initiative by claiming the cross-party inquiry could examine how the previous government had left the City so unregulated.
Cameron's proposed inquiry, including peers and MPs, will be chaired by Andrew Tyrie, the respected Conservative chairman of the Treasury select committee. It will not have an inbuilt Tory majority. Witnesses can be compelled to give evidence under oath. It is due to report by the end of December and will be provided with extra research resources by the Treasury.
It will look into what lessons can be learned in relation to "transparency, conflicts of interest, culture and the professional standards of the banking industry".
Previously ministers had rejected Labour's call for a retrospective inquiry, but on Monday morning Downing Street changed tack, sensing potential revenge for the agony caused by the Leveson inquiry by turning attention to Labour's role in allowing the Libor interest rate scandal now engulfing Barclays bank.
DAILY MAIL
'I love Barclays': Boss Bob Diamond apologises for Libor rate-rigging scandal as he defends bank's culture
By James Salmon
Bob Diamond has talked of his ‘love’ for Barclays in an impassioned defence of the bank’s culture in the wake of the rate-rigging scandal.
On the day Barclays chairman Marcus Agius confirmed his departure, the under-fire chief executive finally apologised for the debacle.
But City figures say he has 48 hours to save his job, with his performance before the powerful Treasury Select Committee tomorrow crucial to his future.
Last night it emerged that Barclays is speeding up succession plans for Diamond whether he survives or not.
Plans to launch an internal review of the bank’s misdemeanours since the financial crash were criticised as ‘laughable’, with shareholders piling on the pressure for Diamond to fall on his sword.
DAILY TELEGRAPH
Libor scandal may have cost families their homes
By Robert Winnett, Political Editor
Grant Shapps said that the scandal may have been a “contributory factor” in some home repossessions following the credit crisis.
The Housing Minister issued the warning as David Cameron and George Osborne announced a fast-track Parliamentary inquiry into the behaviour and culture of Britain’s banks.
The inquiry, which is not the independent judge-led inquiry demanded by Labour, will report back before the end of the year...
Asked yesterday whether the scandal may have contributed to people having their homes repossessed, Mr Shapps said: “All the research into homelessness proves that there are a lot of different causes, of which the Libor rate may have [been] a contributory factor, if indeed it transpires that mortgage rates have been adjusted as a result.”
A Barclays source said they did not believe the bank’s actions had caused anyone to lose their home.
cityam.com
EDITOR’S LETTER - ALLISTER HEATH
We should prosecute criminals, not set up endless inquiries
We should be grateful for small mercies: yesterday’s announcements from the government concerning the banking crisis were half good. It is excellent news that the authorities have become more serious in their determination to prosecute wrong-doing criminally. Fines are not enough; we need to see tough jail sentences for those who break the rules and a change in the law if necessary to achieve that. The probe into the despicable and disgraceful Libor affair also makes sense – it will be speedy and to the point.
But I’m not sold on the parliamentary inquiry. Rather than relying on endless, energy-sapping and hugely time-consuming investigations partly designed to make politicians feel good about themselves, the authorities should focus on their core purpose: fighting fraud and rule-breaking wherever it occurs. Andrew Tyrie, the excellent chairman of the Treasury Select Committee, will undoubtedly do a good job trying to investigate what really happened and who in the City, the Bank of England, the Treasury and government agencies knew what was going on – why does he need another committee? I hope he’ll prove me wrong.
THE SUN
We’re quids in at Poundland
Sales of £780m...and 2,000 jobs
By Rhodri Phillips
Britain’s biggest budget store Poundland is thriving in the recession — and is set to create 2,000 jobs in the next year. The chain, where everything costs £1, revealed yesterday that annual sales for the 53 weeks to April were £780million — up 19.3 per cent.
Poundland, Europe’s largest single price discount retailer, has opened 62 new stores in the last year, creating 1,500 jobs — and its expansion is set to continue at pace.
Chief exec Jim McCarthy told Sun City: “We are a fantastic business during good times. We are a very, very good business during bad times. About 14 per cent of Britain’s high street stores are shut at the moment. We are expanding.
“There has been a continuing flight to value. There continues to be a focus on retailers that can bring value, particularly with troubled consumers who have tightened budgets. Poundland has great resonance for the British public.”
THE TIMES
House prices increase by 0.4 per cent
By Mark Bridge
House prices in England and Wales increased by 0.4 per cent to an average of £161,677 in the year to the end of May, according to the Land Registry. Prices were up 0.5 per cent on the previous month.
The biggest increases were in London, where the average price rose by 7.7 per cent in the 12 months and 2.6 month-on-month from April to May to reach £365,359.
Nevertheless, there was significant regional variation. The largest falls were in Yorkshire and The Humber, where prices were down 3.9 per cent in the year to £117,371, and the North East, where they were down 3.5 per cent to £99,492.
The total number of sales increased by 25 per cent in the 12 months to the end of March, the latest month for which the relevant data is available. However, sales of top-end homes tumbled by 40 per cent as the Chancellor increased stamp duty to 7 per cent on sales over £2 million in the Budget.
bbc.co.uk
Chambers calls for 'bold action' over weak UK economy
The latest survey from the British Chambers of Commerce (BCC) suggests that while the UK economy remains weak, businesses are growing.
However, the quarterly survey of almost 8,000 small- and medium-sized firms says that the pace of activity is too slow for a sustainable recovery.
Director general John Longworth called for the creation of a national business bank and more infrastructure spending.
Bold action is necessary, he said, adding: "Growth cannot wait."
The survey found a further small rise in exporting activity among both the service sector and manufacturing firms in the three months to the end of June. Domestic activity, however, showed little net overall change.
THE SCOTSMAN
Manufacturing slide hints at fresh QE round
By Perry Gourley
Another wave of quantitative easing (QE) to kick-start the UK economy now looks even more likely following figures yesterday which showed the manufacturing sector contracted for the second straight month in June as new orders continued to fall.
Although the pace of decline eased in June after a steep drop in May, the eurozone crisis and slowing growth in the US and Asia took their toll on overseas orders in particular.
The sector also made job losses for the second month in a row, reflecting weak demand.
The latest reading from the Cips/Markit purchasing managers’ index suggests the sector’s output is set to decline at least 0.5 per cent in the second quarter of 2012, fuelling fears that the UK’s double-dip recession will continue. The sector also made job losses for the second month in a row, reflecting weak demand.
The Bank is expected to top up the £325 billion it has already pumped into markets with a further £50bn when it meets on Thursday as falling inflation gives it more scope to support the battered economy.
THE INDEPENDENT
Glaxo pays $3bn for illegally marketing depression drug
By Stephen Foley
GlaxoSmithKline, the UK's largest drug maker, tricked and bribed doctors into prescribing children with dangerous antidepressants, it was revealed last night.
The company will pay $3bn (£1.9bn) to settle a slew of charges in the US after admitting a multi-year criminal scheme to hide unhelpful scientific evidence, manipulate articles in medical journals and lavish gifts on sympathetic doctors.
The drug at the centre of the scheme, the blockbuster pill Paxil, which is branded Seroxat in Britain, has since been banned for use by children because it can make them suicidal.
Company managers, all the way up to GSK's chief executive, Sir Andrew Witty, will have their pay and bonuses clawed back if there is any further wrongdoing, under the terms of a wide-ranging settlement with the Department of Justice.
DAILY EXPRESS
Toy firm wants new partner for Sindy
Sindy is looking for a long-term partner as she reaches her 50th birthday.
Sindy’s owner Pedigree Toys plans to license or share equity in the iconic doll brand as it moves from toy-making to focus on publishing and third party licensing.
The doll was launched in 1963 and more than 150 million have been sold. Part of the doll’s appeal was its uniquely British “girl next door” image, against the US image of American rival Barbie, the group said. Sindy’s fashions reflected mini-skirts in the Swinging Sixties to platform shoes in the Seventies and puffballs in the Eighties. In 1966, at the height of Beatlemania, a male doll named Paul was launched to be Sindy’s boyfriend. Chief executive Jerry Reynolds said: “The best way to ensure Sindy’s continued success is through partnership with a toy industry player.”
The dolls have become collectable items and some of the rarest examples sell for as much as £1,500.
