The former Bank of England official charged with identifying problems in small business lending at Royal Bank of Scotland says the lender needs to rethink the way its controversial turnaround group operates. Sir Andrew Large, a former Deputy Governor of the Bank of England, said the taxpayer-backed lender’s profit-making model in its restructuring business was “flawed” and that allegations it intentionally put companies out of business for the bank’s gain were “plausible”. – Daily Telegraph

Robust domestic demand helped South Korea record its fastest annual growth for nearly three years in the last quarter, as an improving global outlook prompted the export-reliant nation’s manufacturers to invest in new capacity. The economy grew by 3.9% in the last three months of 2013 from the same period of 2012, broadly in line with economists’ forecasts. In a break from the trend of recent years, domestic demand’s contribution to growth outstripped that of exports, the Bank of Korea said on Thursday. – Financial Times

A politically toxic battle over the £1.5m pay of Royal Mail boss Moya Greene looks likely to intensify as the government suggested it might block any large increases in executive remuneration. The move by Vince Cable’s Department for Business comes after he previously objected to £250,000 in relocation payments awarded to the recently privatised company’s boss when the mail service was wholly owned by the state. Greene, who moved from Canada to take up the post, voluntarily agreed to repay the money after she heard of Cable’s concerns. – The Guardian

A report which claimed that Royal Bank of Scotland had deliberately driven small firms out of business to make money was questioned in the Commons yesterday. Sir Andrew Large, the author of another report into state-backed RBS’s lending to smaller businesses, said he found no evidence of the bank engineering companies into default. – The Scotsman

Europe should be reclassified as an emerging market that needs major economic reform if it is not to fall behind the world’s fast-growing developing nations, the chief executive of the French oil company Total has said. Christophe de Margerie claimed that workers needed to upgrade their skills if the Continent were to compete with Asia and Latin America, as business leaders and economists warned that Europe was not out of the woods yet. – The Times

Sponsored

Click here to view our Sponsored Content Hub