Friday newspaper round-up: Brexit, Intu, RBS, piracy

The UK and EU are moving closer to a deal on a backstop solution for the Irish border that would break the impasse in Brexit talks, senior sources said last night. It is understood that British negotiators have informally tabled a proposal, first revealed by The Times, that would involve the whole of the UK remaining in a customs union with the EU until a longer term solution can be found to avoid the return of a hard Irish border. - The Times

Ireland’s prime minister has urged Theresa May to publish her revised Brexit border plan “as soon as possible” so the UK and EU can seal a Brexit deal in November. Leo Varadkar said the UK must not delay until a few days before a crunch summit on 17-18 October because the EU needed time to “respond to it in a meaningful way” if talks were to advance. - Guardian

The European Union is ready to offer Britain a form of “Canada-plus” Brexit trade deal, Donald Tusk has said in a move described as a “superb way forward” by arch-critic Boris Johnson. Mr Tusk, the European Council president, also demanded that Theresa May’s government “get down to business” and solve the Irish border issue to seal a Brexit deal. - Telegraph

John Whittaker, the billionaire owner of Peel Group, is trying to orchestrate a multibillion-pound deal to take Intu Properties private, only months after the shopping centre owner’s proposed merger with Hammerson failed. In a move that could trigger an auction for the struggling Intu, Peel Group confirmed that it had formed a consortium for a potential bid with Olayan Group, a Saudi conglomerate, and Brookfield, a Canadian private equity group. - The Times

Lloyds Banking Group has been ordered to tighten its procedures by the competition watchdog after it failed to tell thousands of customers about their right to cancel their payment protection insurance. The Competition and Markets Authority said it is taking action against the bank for "serious breaches" after it failed to remind 14,000 customers between 2012 and 2018 that they still have a policy and can cancel. It also sent incorrect information to 2,884 others. - Telegraph

Ending austerity will cost £20 billion if it involves raising public-sector wages, the Institute for Fiscal Studies has said. Theresa May said at the Conservative Party conference that austerity would come to an end in next year’s spending review when Philip Hammond, the chancellor, sets out departmental spending totals.

Santander has launched its campaign to win a large grant from the Royal Bank of Scotland’s £775 million fund to increase competition and innovation in business banking by making its 123 current account available for business customers. The Spanish bank is regarded as one of the most likely contenders. However, its choice would be controversial as it has about 10 per cent of the business current account market and held talks with RBS about buying part of its business that it was meant to divest under state aid rules, only for those negotiations to fall through. - The Times

Travelodge is ramping up its expansion into the business market, with a £100m initiative to target sites near major conference centres. The budget hotel chain has identified 10 locations across the country, from London’s Olympia to Glasgow’s SEC Centre, where it is “actively looking” to run new hotels. - Telegraph

Regulators have been accused of turning a blind eye to pensions mis-selling after deciding not to ban a controversial fee arrangement seen by some as encouraging vulnerable workers to surrender valuable retirement benefits. The Financial Conduct Authority said yesterday that it had decided not to outlaw so-called contingent charging. - The Times

A decline in rail passenger journeys has been arrested despite May’s catastrophic timetable overhaul. Between April and June passenger journeys across Britain’s rail network totalled 428.9m. This was slightly higher, by 1m, than the first three months of 2018. - Telegraph

Legal & General is backing a scheme to create a £1.8 billion network of science and technology centres in regional cities. The investment group has formed a joint venture with Bruntwood, the property company behind Manchester Science Partnerships, that will own and manage Britain’s largest portfolio of science and technology parks. - The Times

Tesla shares fell as Elon Musk mocked the US financial markets watchdog on Twitter, describing it as the “Shortseller Enrichment Commission”. "Just want to that the Shortseller Enrichment Commission is doing incredible work," Mr Musk, a frequent critic of investors betting against the electric car company, wrote on Twitter. "And the name change is so on point!" - Telegraph

The man letting himself into your home wearing plastic overshoes and a bodycam may look like something out of an episode of CSI, but in fact he’s here to deliver your groceries. Waitrose is set to take the convenience of internet shopping a step further by saying that customers do not even have to be at home when their orders arrive. The supermarket chain is trialing an “in-home” delivery service that gives drivers access to customers’ homes to unpack their shopping while they are out. - The Times

Electra Private Equity has kicked off a jumble sale of its remaining assets after agreeing the disposal of its investments in Photobox and Knight Square. The quoted investment trust said that the sale of its minority stakes in Photobox, the online photo-printing business, and Knight Square, a residential property manager and healthcare provider, to Lexington Partners, an American private equity firm, would bring shareholders dividends totalling £161 million. - The Times

Funding Circle has suffered one of the worst first-week performances for a British float after shares in the peer-to-peer lender fell sharply again yesterday. Its stock fell by almost 7 per cent to close at 340p, 100p below the price at which the company floated last Friday. - The Times

Britain’s largest independent toy retailer has recorded another stellar year. The Entertainer said that its profits had surged by 38 per cent year-on-year to £11.9 million on total sales that rose by 7.4 per cent to £164 million, excluding VAT, in the 12 months to the end of January. - The Times

Online piracy is on the rise once again after years of decline because there are so many television streaming services that people are unwilling to take out multiple subscriptions. TV fans embraced illicit file-sharing services in the late 1990s and early 2000s to watch programmes at their convenience, rather than be restricted by broadcasters’ schedules. - The Times

Government plans to move 3 million people currently receiving tax credits and disability benefits on to universal credit from next April will trigger an explosion in food bank use, the Trussell Trust has warned. The trust – the UK’s biggest food bank network – said urgent changes to the “managed migration” programme are needed to protect vulnerable claimants from falling into hardship or dropping out of the benefit system altogether. - Guardian

The average Briton buys enough clothing every year to fill a large suitcase, the most in Europe, a study has found. The clothes purchased weigh an average of 26.7kg, 10kg more than any other nationality and almost double that of the fashion-conscious Italians. - The Times