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Wednesday newspaper round-up: BP and Shell, RBS, M&S…

Your Money
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Your Money
Posted:
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15/05/2013

BP and Shell raided over allegations of petrol price-fixing; Treasury considering no ‘money up front’ plan for RBS shares; M&S chief’s job ‘hanging in balance’.

BP, Shell and a number of other oil majors are under investigation by European regulators into whether they rigged the price of oil for over a decade, writes The Telegraph. Authorities raided offices of the companies yesterday after MPs and officials suggested that the oil price could be vulnerable to being manipulated in the same way as LIBOR was rigged by the banks.

“Treasury ministers are to consider a ‘big bang’ plan to offer the public shares in Royal Bank of Scotland that would mean they would not have to pay any money up front,” writes The Times. According to the paper, 50-70% of RBS’s shares could be offered to the public who would then benefit if the share price rises.

“A glorious autumn for Marks & Spencer? It had better be if Marc Bolland, the chief executive, is to keep his job. Actually, the Dutchman needs next year’s spring collections to sparkle too if he is to convince the City he is still the right man for the job,” the The Guardian reports.

The Financial Times says that retail giant Wal-Mart has opted out of a deal to improve factory safety in Bangladesh due to “governance and dispute resolution mechanisms” that are unnecessary. A number of other European retailers have already signed the deal, including H&M, Inditex, Benetton, Primark, Mango and C&A.

Sir Philip Hampton, the Chairman of RBS said yesterday at an annual general meeting (AGM) that he couldn’t guarantee if scandals at the part-nationalised bank – including LIBOR-fixing, mis-selling and an IT meltdown – are over, The Independent writes.

Gerry Grimstone, the Chairman of insurance group Standard Life, had to defend the firm’s pay policy yesterday in response to concerns of poor returns on some policies. The Scotsman.

The paper says: “His comments at the AGM in Edinburgh came in response to one shareholder who said other professionals, such as doctors and teachers, would be insulted if they felt a need to be incentivised to do a better job. He asked Chief Executive David Nish what tasks he would not have done had he not received a bonus. Nish did not reply.”


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