Thursday Papers: Automatic pension plan to go ahead - money news

Financial Times

* The government is to go ahead with plans to enrol millions of employees into a pension automatically for the first time, including those working for the smallest employers, Steve Webb, the pensions minister, confirmed on Wednesday; starting with the largest companies in 2012, by 2016 all employers will be required to enrol the bulk of their employees into a pension.

* BlueCrest Capital is to liquidate the $630 million BlueCrest BlueTrend Ucits fund - which was an onshore version of the firm’s successful computer-driven $9bn BlueTrend fund - that it launched last year.

* Credit Suisse is raising $800 million for a fund that will help European banks reduce the amount of capital they must set aside under tough new global banking regulations.

* Vodafone’s flagship Oxford Street store was forced to close on Wednesday after protesters blockaded the entrance, accusing the company of failing to pay £6 billion in taxes; the protest came less than a week after Indian tax authorities ordered the company to pay $2.53 billion owed in tax.

* Lazard has posted a sharp rise in quarterly profits as improving demand for merger advice and record results from its asset-management arm lifted revenues;  net income jumped 71% to $64 million, or 51 cents a share, to beat Wall Street estimates; revenue rose 10% to $453.2 million.

* British Airways’ top executives are poised to receive hefty pay rises once the airline’s planned merger with Iberia is finalised; Willie Walsh, chief executive, will see his base pay rise from £735,000 to £825,000 a year, according to merger documents released as part of the deal.

* Clydesdale and Yorkshire Bank said it would be less damaged by the new tax on banks’ balance sheets than it previously thought after lobbying the government to bring in changes that benefit smaller institutions.

* Targetfollow Property has lost its fight with Lloyds Banking Group to prevent administration, becoming the latest property group to be sunk by debt taken against properties that have declined in value; Targetfollow owes £223 million that was due in July, in addition to £453 million of debt that matures this month.

* French protests over pension reforms appeared to be running out of steam as high speed train services returned to near normal and many oil refinery employees returned to work.

* WestLB risks escalating its dispute with the European Commission by halting the sale of a key subsidiary that Brussels had demanded be divested this year as a condition for approving state aid for the German bank.

* Borrowers’ ability to tap certain debt markets could be threatened by a row brewing in Brussels over the willingness of European Union regulators to accept credit ratings from agencies outside the 27-country bloc.