Friday newspaper round-up: Pensions, BHS, SSI, Schroders

George Osborne is facing mounting pressure from within government to rule out radical changes to pensions tax relief, with the pensions minister Ros Altmann cautioning against a major overhaul of the system. With a final decision imminent on the future shape of pensions tax relief, opponents fear reform proposals would lead to deep and lasting damage to retirement saving. – Financial Times

Bob Diamond, the forceful former Barclays chief executive, is approaching investors to back a takeover bid for a swath of the UK bank’s African empire that he helped to construct. His audacious move comes after Barclays announced plans this week to sell its African operations, which date back almost a century. The retreat has raised concerns among customers and regulators about the future of one of the continent’s biggest lenders. – Financial Times

BHS has appealed to creditors for permission to enter a form of insolvency that could lead to the closure of dozens of stores and loss of hundreds of jobs, as the High Street stalwart fights for survival. The retailer has submitted proposals to the High Court for a Company Voluntary Agreement (CVA) in an attempt to drive down rent costs for 87 of its 164 stores. Preparations for the proposals, made by BHS on advice from KPMG, were revealed by The Telegraph last month. – Telegraph

To say that experts often get it wrong is an understatement. Philip Tetlock, a brilliant US academic who has studied this phenomenon in detail, once concluded that the average “expert” was in fact “roughly as accurate as a dart-throwing chimpanzee”. Consumers of expert advice should thus always heed the old adage of caveat emptor, or “let the buyer beware”. – Telegraph

Former SSI steelworkers have been awarded a share of £6.25m over lack of consultation when their plant in Redcar closed. The Community trade union took action on behalf of more than 1,100 of its members who lost their jobs when the site closed last year. Workers who were part of Community’s claim will receive up to eight weeks’ pay from the government’s redundancy payments office. – Guardian

The competition watchdog is expected to announce next week that it has ditched plans to introduce a wide-ranging price cap on energy bills after fierce lobbying from the big six suppliers. The Competition and Markets Authority (CMA) is also likely to announce that it is lifting a limit on the number of tariffs that companies can offer, scrapping a policy that was introduced by industry regulator Ofgem to provide more clarity for consumers. – Guardian

Schroders was accused of driving a coach and horses through boardroom best practice after promoting its long-serving chief executive, Michael Dobson, to non-executive chairman. Corporate governance experts expressed concern that such a major investment group, which owns stakes in numerous British blue chips, was flouting the standards it normally expects from other companies. Mr Dobson said that he would stand down as chief executive on April 4 and take over from Andrew Beeson as chairman at the same time. – The Times

David Cameron and François Hollande threw their weight behind plans to build an £18 billion nuclear power station at Hinkley Point in Somerset yesterday as officials scrambled to dispel growing scepticism over the project. In a statement, the British and French leaders described Hinkley as a “major strategic project” and a “pillar of the bilateral relationship” that would be a key aspect of British energy policy. – The Times