Monday newspaper round-up: Brexit delay, UK fracking, BAE Systems

Banks are demanding up to five years to deal with the consequences of Britain’s departure from the European Union, a move that if successful could prompt accusations of favouritism and incur the wrath of those campaigning for a swift exit. Britain’s lenders are pressing to be allowed up to three further years to arrange their affairs for Brexit on top of the two-year period that will be triggered when Theresa May invokes Article 50. They say they need more time because of the complexities of having to move big operations away from the UK. - The Times

Britain’s efforts to get fracking for shale gas have suffered a fresh delay after it emerged a legal challenge against the only approved project will not be heard until the end of November. Shale explorer Third Energy had hoped it might start work at its Kirby Misperton site in North Yorkshire as soon as the end of this year, after getting planning consent in May. - Telegraph

Theresa May has ruled out a radical switch to an immigration system that would strip EU citizens of their preferential access to the UK, in comments expected to inflame Brexit supporters. The prime minister, speaking ahead of her first G20 summit in China, is considering a more modest reform of immigration rules for EU citizens, knowing that severe curbs could leave Britain excluded from large parts of the single market. - Financial Times

Japan has issued a daunting challenge to Theresa May, UK prime minister, to negotiate a very “soft” British exit from the EU or risk seeing Japanese banks and other companies leave for the continent. Mrs May, attending her first G20 summit in China, was also warned on Sunday by Barack Obama, US president, that strong business links between his country and the UK could “unravel” unless Brexit was handled carefully. - Financial Times

Theresa May is to bring forward proposals to tackle bad corporate behaviour such as excessive executive pay and aggressive tax avoidance, as she used the G20 summit to warn that some people feel left behind by globalisation. Addressing the conference in the city of Hangzhou in eastern China, she said world leaders needed to make sure more people felt the benefits of globalisation and free trade. - Guardian

Britain is easily capable of thriving outside the European Union, one of the world’s leading economists has insisted. “There’s no reason why not”, says Joseph Stiglitz, a Nobel prize winning economist and something of an economic guru to the political left. “But it depends on how Europe responds, and how the negotiations go. - Telegraph

John Malone, the billionaire head of Liberty Media, faces a fight for control of Formula One after it emerged that two more potential bidders had expressed an interest in owning the motorsport business. The Monza paddock at the Italian Grand Prix was awash with speculation yesterday that this week Liberty will launch a £1 billion bid for 20 per cent of the sport and that Bernie Ecclestone, who has ruled Formula One for four decades, was at his last race in control. - The Times

BAE Systems has teamed up with Germany’s top insurer Allianz as it aims to grab a bigger slice of the burgeoning cyber defence market. Under the tie-up, which will open up potential deals for BAE with companies that have been targeted by cyber criminals, the defence giant will provide Allianz customers with instant access to its cyber defence expertise. - Telegraph

A raft of data published this week will offer the latest health check on the state of the UK economy following June’s vote to leave the EU, with economists expecting the figures to suggest businesses were so far “proving resilient”. On Monday, figures will show how confidence is holding up in the UK service sector, from the latest survey of purchasing managers. Andrew Sentance, senior economics adviser at PwC, said the update would be the most closely scrutinised of all the data due this week after activity and orders in July were found to have contracted at the fastest rate since early 2009. - Guardian

The world’s top 10 investment banks have already paid out almost as much in fines and penalties so far this year as they did in the 12 months of 2015, dashing hopes that the outlay for misdeeds had begun to taper off. The banks have paid $9.79bn in fines and settlements for the first eight months of 2016, meaning that this year’s total will almost certainly top the $10.36bn paid in the entire of 2015, according to data compiled by analytics firm Corlytics. - Financial Times

Talks between a £5 billion British data centre company and a Chinese consortium about a potential investment are continuing despite former foreign secretary Malcolm Rifkind one of several senior politicians and experts who raised concerns at the weekend about a potential danger to security. Global Switch, which is owned by the billionaire Reuben brothers, said yesterday that the talks with a “consortium of high-quality private sector Asian investors” could “unlock access to the fast-growing telecommunications and internet markets in Asia”. - The Times

The accountancy group under investigation by its professional watchdog over its audit of Tesco has a new role at the supermarket chain. Tesco has appointed PwC as an independent adviser, despite replacing it as auditor with Deloitte. - The Times