Tuesday newspaper round-up: May in New York, Ladbrokes, building blocked

Theresa May will canvass leading Wall Street banks over how Britain should structure its departure from the EU to reassure them that Brexit will not damage their UK business. Mrs May will meet “mostly” chief executives from the finance sector along with figures from the technology and entertainment sectors at the mid-town residence of the British consul-general in New York on Monday. - Financial Times

Up to 700 gambling industry jobs could be lost in London as a result of the impending £3.3 billion merger of Ladbrokes and Gala Coral Group. In an internal email, Carl Leaver, Gala Coral’s chief executive, told employees that, in an attempt to remove duplication, there could be “around 600, maybe up to 700, fewer positions” at the merged company, equivalent to about half the combined total. - The Times

Small and medium-sized house builders are struggling to find land on which to build, exacerbating the shortage of new homes, according to a new poll. A survey by the Federation of Master Builders found that 67pc SME house builders in England face a “lack of available and viable land” as their biggest problem for the second consecutive year. - Telegraph

Pre-EU referendum jitters have caused a slump in the number of shops opening their doors, according to a biannual report monitoring vacancy rates on the UK high street. Shop closures outstripped openings by 1,997 from January to the end of June, according to the retail data firm Local Data Company. - Guardian

Japan’s central bank will open a new front this week in the battle against deflation by overhauling its quantitative easing programme as policymakers worldwide look for new ideas to kickstart growth. The Bank of Japan will unveil the conclusions of a “comprehensive assessment” of its monetary policies on Wednesday, when it is expected both to increase and reprofile QE alongside an interest rate cut deeper into negative territory. - The Times

Rock-bottom returns are increasingly pushing investors to abandon the drive for socially responsible investments, according to a study from Hermes Investment Management. A survey of more than 100 institutional investors found that 60pc believe that environmental, social and corporate governance (ESG) risks justify rejecting an otherwise attractive investment – down from 67pc a year ago. - Telegraph

Fraud in the UK payments industry has soared by 53% in a year as criminals resort to increasingly sophisticated tactics to trick people out of their personal details and steal their money. Official industry data shows that a total of 1,007,094 cases of financial fraud – involving online and phone banking, debit and credit cards, and cheques – occurred between 1 January and 30 June this year. That compares with the 660,308 cases reported during the same six-month period in 2015. - Guardian

The White House will release guidelines for self-driving automobiles on Tuesday, as well as model legislation recommended to states that want to follow in the footsteps of California, Florida and Nevada, which have legalized automated vehicles. The US Department of Transportation (DoT) will publish a new document containing “vehicle performance guidance for manufacturers, developers, and other organizations”, including a 15-point safety assessment auto-makers are being asked to sign and submit to the DoT. - Guardian

Hong Kong’s bankers fear that one of their most important institutions, the Listing Committee, is under threat and with it the city’s role as a global centre for capital raising. The perceived danger comes from a proposed shake-up to how initial public offerings are approved that has been put forward by the Securities and Futures Commission and the Hong Kong Exchange, and aim to streamline the listing process and make it more transparent. - Financial Times

Russia’s state-owned nuclear developer has warned EDF that delays or cost overruns at its Hinkley Point power project risk damaging the credibility of the wider industry. Kirill Komarov, deputy chief executive of Rosatom, the Kremlin-controlled company that is building more reactors than any other group, said that problems at other EDF projects, such as Flamanville in France, were having a detrimental impact on the reputation of the industry. - The Times