Sunday Papers: Consumers 'could suffer' after quango shake-up - money news

The Sunday Telegraph

* Consumers could have less power to challenge big companies because the body set up to represent them - Consumer Focus - will be scrapped in a shake-up of quangos, it is reported; meanwhile, the Office of Fair Trading will be merged with the Competition Commission.

* JP Morgan Chase is expected to report a third quarter profit of $3.8 billion, or 90 cents a share, on Wednesday, compared with $4.8 billion or $1.09 a share, in the second quarter.

The Sunday Times

* George Osborne will make a double attack on pensions this week with a cut to inflation-linked payments and a sharp reduction in the annual tax-free allowance.

* Paul McGowan, founder and chief executive of Hilco UK, the turnround firm, took home salary and dividends totalling £5.6 million in 2009.

* The Number UK, which owns the 118 118 service, paid out £25 million dividend last year down from £52m a year earlier; operating profit was up 9% at £64 million on turnover flat at £116 million.

* A team of five hedge fund managers at Mayfair-based Comac is set to profit from a bonus pot worth more than £97 million.

* Tom Hicks, co-owner of Liverpool football club, has joined forces with Mill Financial, a secretive American hedge fund, in a last-ditch attempt to prevent the club being sold against his wishes.

* Royal Bank of Scotland has drawn up plans to vacate part of its City “campus” near Liverpool Street station; it is also in negotiations to quit its Regent’s House premises in Islington, north London.

* The $20.5 billion Hong Kong listing of AIA, the Asian arm of the US insurer AIG, was five times oversubscribed, sources said.

* Retail insolvencies fell to pre-recession levels in the third quarter, PwC revealed; more than 360 retailers went out of business, a level last seen in 2007.