Thursday Papers: Brokers suspended in Libor inquiry

Top stories

• Financial Times: Regulators have been investigating US and European banks that help set interbank lending rates in London and Tokyo since late 2010, to determine whether they colluded to set the overnight lending rates known as Libor, Tibor and Euribor.
• Financial Times: Stephen Hester, the chief executive of Royal Bank of Scotland, hit back at politicians who pressed him to waive a £1 million bonus, warning the furore could hinder his efforts to return the taxpayer’s £45 billion investment in the bank.
• The Guardian: The Bank of England is widely expected again this week to announce billions more in its quantitative easing programme.
• Financial Times: A dispute over pension cuts stalled talks Wednesday night between leaders of Greece’s fractious national unity government on tough new austerity measures, one of the last hurdles to be cleared before eurozone officials can sign off on a €130 billion bail-out and save Athens from a messy default.
• The Daily Telegraph: Plans for the heads of commodity trading giant Glencore and miner Xstrata to share out management roles after a £54 billion mega-merger of the companies are being questioned by the City.
• Daily Mail: The sale of hundreds of Lloyds branches hangs in the balance as sources said the Financial Services Authority could block the deal.
• Financial Times: Airbus is facing fresh scrutiny over the safety of its flagship A380 “superjumbo” after European regulators ordered inspections for possible wing cracks on all 68 of the double-decker passenger jets in operation.

Business and economics

• Financial Times: The cost of lending between eurozone banks fell to 1.07% on Wednesday, the lowest level since 28 January 2011, underlining the effect of the European Central Bank’s €489 billion loan facility on funding across the region.
• Financial Times: The US Treasury department has struck agreements with the governments of the UK, France, Germany, Italy and Spain, allowing banks in those countries to submit information on American account holders through their own governments rather than directly to US tax authorities.
• The Daily Telegraph: Stephen Hester, chief executive of Royal Bank of Scotland, said he would forgo bonuses and a knighthood in return for a "quiet life".
• Financial Times: Goldman Sachs has bought $6.2 billion of bundled mortgage debt once owned by AIG, in a deal that highlights growing investor interest in “toxic” assets that were at the heart of the financial crisis.
• Financial Times: JAL and British Airways have announced plans for a joint venture that would seek to co-ordinate flight schedules between Europe and Japan and share revenues.
• Financial Times: Facebook has found a way to monetise its new Timeline feature less than five months after launching it, repackaging what people “listen” to, “watch,” and “read” into ads and delivering them to their friends.
• Financial Times: Joaquín Almunia, the European competition commissioner, will on Tuesday announce whether he will clear Google’s the $12.5 billion takeover of Motorola, or open a more in-depth, second phase investigation.
• Financial Times: Deutsche Bank is to put a €200,000 limit on upfront bonuses to its 100,000 worldwide staff.
• Financial Times: General Motors is heading for a fresh confrontation with its European trade unions and workforce after a report that it was considering closing two of Opel’s plants in Germany and the UK.
• Financial Times: The Indian Supreme Court decision that revoked Telenor’s mobile licences and led to a NKr4.2 billion ($729.2 million) writedown has caused the group to report a net loss of NKr2.5 billion in the fourth quarter.
• Daily Mail: The pre-tax profits of BT in the three months to December, excluding one-time items, rose 18% to £628 million.
• Financial Times: Nokia will cut about 4,000 jobs at its smartphone manufacturing bases in Finland, Hungary and Mexico after announcing plans to shift production to Asia.
• The Daily Telegraph: Thomas Cook has said it will finally appoint a new chief executive by the end of March as it faced a backlash over its £1.17 million payout to departed boss Manny Fontenla-Novoa.
• Financial Times: Groupon has disappointed investors with its first quarterly financial results since it went public, reporting a net loss of 2 cents per share, compared with the 3 cents per share profit Wall Street was expecting.
• The Independent: Trafigura sailed back into controversy on Wednesday amid accusations that the commodities trading giant was dealing in illegal oil cargo.
• Financial Times: Visa’s net income rose to $1 billion or $1.49 a share in the three months ended 31 December, up from $884 million and $1.23 a share in the same quarter a year ago.
• Financial Times: Sprint Nextel has reported a fourth-quarter net loss of $1.3 billion led by higher costs of selling Apple’s heavily subsidised iPhone 4S.
• Financial Times: Virgin Media revenues rose by 3% to £3.99 billion in 2011 – in line with forecasts – and swung from a pre-tax loss of £293.3 million in 2010 to a profit of £93.1 million.
• The Independent: Cable operator Virgin Media is to create 620 new jobs as it looks to meet demand for its broadband and television on-demand service.
• Financial Times: The revenues of Time Warner were up 5% to $8.2 billion in the fourth quarter thanks to strong results in its cable television networks division and home video sales of the final Harry Potter film.
• The Daily Telegraph: Phone hacking at News International has cost Rupert Murdoch's News Corporation nearly $200 million to date, the company said Wednesday night, as it warned it could not predict the final bill.
• The Guardian: SuperGroup, the company behind the Superdry brand, has issued a warning on profits; analysts had been expecting profits of between £50 million and £54 million after a previous profits warning in October.
• Financial Times: Sanofi, the French pharmaceutical group, will receive a $270 million payment from its generic rival Apotex over rights to its blockbuster blood thinner Plavix.
• Financial Times: HCA, the US hospital operator, sold $1.35 billion of junk bonds late on Tuesday after announcing a special cash dividend to its shareholders, including private equity groups Bain Capital and KKR.
• Daily Mail: Mothercare has hired Lovefilm boss Simon Calver as chief executive in a bid to change the mother-and-baby firm’s fortunes.
• Financial Times: Mike Lawrie, chief executive of Misys, the banking software company which is in merger talks with Swiss rival Temenos, has announced his decision to take over as president and chief executive of Computer Sciences Corporation.
• The Daily Telegraph: Amara Dhari Investments, which controls more than 18% of Plus Markets Group, has said it is "saddened and disappointed" by the company's decision to put itself up for sale.

Share tips, comment and bids

• Financial Times: Three Japanese semiconductor manufacturers including Panasonic and Fujitsu are in talks to merge their operations to create a national champion chipmaker that would be backed by the government.
• Financial Times: The auction process to sell Deutsche Bank Asset Management is faltering after JPMorgan and State Street withdrew from the bidding.
• Financial Times: Reckitt Benckiser is merging its North American and European operations into a single business run out of Amsterdam in an move that demonstrates the growing importance of emerging markets to multinational consumer goods groups.
• Financial Times: Procter & Gamble’s agreed sale of Pringles has been cast into doubt after Diamond Foods, the snack maker seeking to acquire the chip business said it would restate its accounts.
• Financial Times (Comment): This question, which revolves around a clash of business cultures, strong personalities and, yes, even egos, is crucial for the future of the planned combination of Glencore and Xstrata.
• The Guardian (Comment): Europe can achieve growth and employment with an industrial policy that encourages investment. We are done with bowing to the financial sector.
• The Guardian (Comment): Now industrial production and export orders are declining even in Europe's powerhouse, as the austerity Berlin demands stifles its customers' spending.
• The Daily Telegraph (Comment): It might own Brasso polish but Reckitt Benckiser is losing some of its shine.
• Daily Mail (Comment – Alex Brummer): In his first 100 days, Mario Draghi has made a real difference. His measures and the sharper than expected pick-up in the American economy means outlook for the first quarter of 2012 is looking much better than expected.
• Financial Times (The Lex Column): Sprint Nextel: the big boy gets his generous chunk of profit right up front. The little guy gets his piece years down the road. Maybe, or maybe not.
• Financial Times (The Lex Column): Reckitt Benckiser: the chief executive of the British consumer goods company has deemed the most critical part of its new strategy “proprietary information”.
• Financial Times (The Lex Column): Inmarsat: current investors may be fed up with the lack of action, but a private buyer with a longer-term perspective should be able to find value.
• Financial Times (The Lex Column): BHP Billiton: it is wise to try to live within its means, scaling back capital intensive operations but has more growth options than its valuation suggests.