Wednesday newspaper round-up: Electricity market, bad loans, Shell/BG, Barclays

For most leaders, admitting they do not understand something is a no-no. But not Deutsche Bank’s new co-chief executive John Cryan — at least when it comes to the bonus culture and his own pay packet. “I have no idea why I was offered a contract with a bonus in it because I promise you I will not work any harder or any less hard in any year, in any day because someone is going to pay me more or less,” he told a conference in Frankfurt. – Financial Times

MPs have demanded an investigation into possible manipulation of the electricity market, after it emerged a power plant​​ reduced its output ahead of a supply shortage and then charged far higher prices to generate again. The chairman of the Energy and Climate Change select committee said it would write to regulator Ofgem asking it to examine “potential abuses of the system” after concerns were raised about the high prices National Grid had to pay one generator, Calon Energy, to help keep the lights on across the UK at the start of November. – Telegraph

Europe’s banks are barely increasing lending because they are still weighed down by bad loans, the European Banking Authority (EBA) said, warning that the burden is greatest on the smallest lenders. A total of €1 trillion of loans are non-performing, hampering efforts to get banks to make new loans to households and businesses that want to spend more or invest. – Telegraph

One of the biggest shareholders in Royal Dutch Shell has thrown its weight behind the oil group’s £43 billion takeover of BG Group, despite mounting concerns about the impact of plunging oil prices on the commercial logic that underpins the deal. The Qatar Investment Authority, the sovereign wealth fund that holds a stake of up to 2 per cent in the Anglo-Dutch group and also is a shareholder in BG, is understood to be “fully supportive” of the proposed transaction, which was announced in April. – The Times

A senior executive fired by Barclays Bank over attempts by it and others to rig the foreign exchange markets has resurfaced running the electronic trading platform at Icap, Michael Spencer’s interdealer broker. Tim Cartledge was head of global fixed-income currencies and commodities electronic trading at Barclays from last year until May, when he was sent on gardening leave. He has been made chief strategy officer at Icap’s EBS BrokerTec electronic foreign exchange and fixed income business. – The Times

John McDonnell, the shadow chancellor, has accused George Osborne of putting Britain’s health and security at risk with politically motivated deficit reduction plans that have left the economy in chaos. Speaking ahead of the 2015 spending review and autumn statement, McDonnell said the key to eliminating the budget deficit was to boost growth through higher investment rather than by reducing tax credits or by cutting the number of police patrolling the streets. – Guardian

Britain’s biggest care home operator is to close seven loss-making sites in Northern Ireland, in a move that affects hundreds of patients, as it struggles with rising costs and a £500m debt burden. The private equity-owned Four Seasons Health Care said the decision was difficult but unavoidable, with the announced closures throwing the sector’s funding struggles into sharp relief just a day before the chancellor’s spending review. - Guardian