Mark Carney, the Governor of the Bank of England, has said it will move to stop the housing market growing at “warp speed”, and signalled that it is unlikely to raise interest rates any time soon. Mr Carney said that the bank was concerned about the “potential” for a bubble in the UK housing market, and that it would tighten lending requirements if needed. – The Telegraph

Postal workers are to get a 9% pay rise over three years and a £200 Christmas bonus in a ground-breaking pay and conditions deal which indicates that both peace and goodwill has finally broken out at the Royal Mail. In what is believed to a be an industrial relations first, the Royal Mail has also signed up to protect current job conditions for its staff for a period of five years in what is effectively a no-strike agreement with the Communication Workers Union.- The Times

EADS is to cut 5,800 jobs at its defence businesses and close sites in Paris, Munich, Spain and Britain as it tries to lift its lagging profit margins and deal with the steep reduction in European defence spending. The cuts, which represent about 4% of the company’s workforce, are less drastic than unions had feared. They will be made over the coming three years and, critically, they will be voluntary, making it more likely Europe’s largest defence and aerospace company will gain the approval of unions and politicians, which is particularly important in Germany. – Financial Times

The world’s biggest airline was officially created on Monday with the merger of American Airways and US Airways, capping a round of consolidation that has worried the US government, rivals and consumer groups. The merged airline will take the American Airlines name and will have a global network of nearly 6,700 daily flights to more than 330 destinations in more than 50 countries, and more than 100,000 employees worldwide. The company has a firm order for 600 new aircraft. – The Guardian

Foreign banks in China have warned that they will suffer severe “collateral damage” from new rules aimed at limiting off-balance sheet lending by domestic banks. Beijing has drafted regulations to restrict interbank loans after financial institutions used them to circumvent government-imposed credit controls. The restrictions are directed at domestic banks that have aggressively increased their interbank business in recent years, but foreign banks, already struggling in China, fear they will be caught in the crossfire. – Financial Times

Current account customers have been switching to Halifax from troubled rivals such as Co-operative Bank and Royal Bank of Scotland, its boss said on Monday, as the bank returned to Scottish high streets for the first time in a decade. Presenting Halifax – which is owned by the bailed-out Lloyds Banking Group – as the “challenger” bank in Scotland, David Nicholson claimed it was “the most switched-to banking brand”. – The Guardian

The US government on Monday drew a line under one of the most complex rescues of the global financial crisis, when it announced it had sold the last of its stake in General Motors, the country’s biggest carmaker by sales. – Financial Times