Thursday Papers: Bank cuts forecast for UK output - other news

Financial Times

* In its quarterly inflation report, the Bank of England warned that constrained bank lending and questions about recovery in the economies of Britain’s main trading partners posed risks to UK growth, as it cut its forecast for output over the next two years.

* Standard Life reported pre-tax profits of £433m for the six months to June 30, up from a loss of £66m last time; total group revenues were £4.9bn, up from £1.9bn, mainly due to a much better net investment result of £2.9bn versus £5m.

* Pre-tax profits at Bank of Ireland fell 60 per cent in the first half of the year; it racked up almost €1bn of losses relating to the tattered portfolio of commercial property loans that it is selling to the Irish government.

* ING reported a jump in group net profit for the quarter to €1.09bn from €71m a year earlier.

* Beijing urges banks to strike right balance.

* India’s central bank has launched a review of bank ownership regulation that is expected to lead to the re-entry into the banking sector of some of the country’s largest industrial conglomerates, such as the Tata and Reliance groups.

* Ukraine considers cap on wheat exports.

* US trade gap swells to $49.9bn, a 21-month high.

* China shows further signs of slowing; inflation jumped above the 3% government target to 3.3%; but factory-gate inflation fell from 6.4% to 4.8%; retails sales increased by 17.9% year-on-year, down from 18.3% in June.

* Foreign investors cooler on Brazil.

* Tougher sanctions against Iran appear to have halved the country’s petrol imports in July, according to the International Energy Agency.