Thursday newspaper round-up: IMF, Barclays, auto industry, Asda

UK chancellor George Osborne has formally nominated Christine Lagarde to serve a second five-year term as managing director of the International Monetary Fund, in an early move designed to create unstoppable momentum behind her. It came within seconds of the fund on Thursday beginning a three-week nominating period for candidates. Ms Lagarde, whose current five-year term ends in July, is widely considered a sure bet for a second mandate. – Financial Times

Barclays is to exit cash equities in Asia, part of a broader retrenchment expected to lead to more than 1,000 job cuts across its investment bank, as new chief executive Jes Staley makes his first big strategic move. Clients were informed in a memo on Thursday morning that the UK bank was shutting cash equity research, sales and trading as well as convertible bond trading businesses across all Asian countries. That will result in the loss of around 230 jobs, according to a person familiar with the matter. – Financial Times

Britain’s auto industry has posted its best manufacturing figures in a decade – but the stellar performance could be the final strong showing if the UK votes to leave the EU. A total of 1,587,677 cars rolled off British production lines last year, an increase of 3.9pc on the previous year and the highest in recent history, according to official data from industry body the Society of Motor Manufacturers and Traders (SMMT). – Telegraph

The Financial Conduct Authority (FCA) has denied the Government has compromised its independence following the controversy over its decision to abandon a review of banking industry culture. The regulator’s chairman, John Griffiths-Jones, told the Treasury select committee that no political pressure had been applied to its decision making. – Telegraph

Asda is considering cutting more than 1,000 store jobs under plans to close hundreds of staff canteens and shopfloor services such as photo processing units. Managers are understood to have met with union representatives on Wednesday to discuss 4,000 other job moves or changes in stores. The cuts come after Asda revealed plans to axe about 200 jobs at its head office in Leeds earlier this week. – Guardian

The EU has fired a warning shot against countries using subsidies to help struggling steelworks, in a further blow to UK government attempts to protect the British steel industry. Belgium has been ordered to claw back €211m (£162m) in illegal state aid given to privately owned Duferco, while the European commission – which enforces EU law – has opened an investigation into €2bn of state support the Italian government is alleged to have given to Ilva, the EU’s third largest steel manufacturer. – Guardian

BT’s network is being forced to deal with “hundreds of thousands” of cyberattacks a day, an increase of 1,000 per cent in the past 18 months. Gavin Patterson, the telecom group’s chief executive, said that the frequency of the attacks and their sophistication had increased as hackers targeted a BT network spanning more than 170 countries. – The Times

Hundreds of petrol-electric-powered hybrid black cabs could be on the streets of London within months after a lawsuit accusing the manufacturer of copycat design was thrown out by the High Court yesterday. Frazer-Nash, which makes Metrocabs, said that it would push ahead with production of the low-emission, six-seater black cab after the “passing off” claim by its main rival, London Taxi Company, was rejected. – The Times