Monday newspaper round-up: Brexit, tax avoidance, Boots, StanChart

Andrew Tyrie, Conservative MP and chairman of the influential Treasury committee, is urging investors to maintain their stand against excessive pay for corporate bosses following the shareholder revolts against BP and Smith & Nephew last week. Mr Tyrie, who steered through legislation to curb and claw back bankers’ bonuses, welcomed the move by BP investors to vote against the remuneration of chief executive Bob Dudley. The oil group’s defeat — the biggest for a top executive’s pay plan in four years — recalled the “shareholder spring” of 2012 when several chief executives were forced to resign. – Financial Times

Stamping out “toxic” tax avoidance by multinational companies will take years, the managing director of the International Monetary Fund has warned. Christine Lagarde said a comprehensive global agreement on how corporations should be taxed “would take a long time to negotiate”, as she stressed that it was important to strike a balance between competition and compliance. – Telegraph

Andrew Mackenzie, the chief executive of struggling mining giant BHP Billiton, has joined the chorus of FTSE 100 bosses pleading with voters to opt to remain in the EU, claiming a Brexit could result in a “decade of disruption” to trade agreements. Mr Mackenzie, who became BHP’s chief executive in 2013 after a career at BP and Rio Tinto, will argue today that membership of the EU is the UK’s “best hope for magnifying its voice on the global stage”. – Telegraph

Sir Martin Sorrell, the chief executive and founder of advertising giant WPP, has launched a passionate defence of his controversial £63m bonus deal in the wake of last week’s explosive start to the annual general meeting season. Speaking after shareholders voted against pay deals at BP and Smith & Nephew on Thursday – and as boardrooms are on high alert for a potential revival of the 2012 “shareholder spring” when scores of investors rebelled over executive pay – Sorrell told the Press Association: “Most of my wealth, if not all of it, is and has been for the last 31 years tied up in the success of WPP. So if WPP does well, I do well, and others in the company do well. If we do badly, we suffer.” – Guardian

Boots faces the prospect of an investigation by the pharmacy watchdog, following a Guardian investigation into the multibillion pound chain. The General Pharmaceutical Council (GPhC) is calling in evidence on the allegations made in the report, which revealed that managers at Britain’s biggest chain of chemists have been forcing staff to milk NHS schemes, in order to increase company profits. – Guardian

Standard Chartered has spoken to Sir Paul Tucker, the former deputy governor of the Bank of England, about becoming its chairman.The embattled emerging markets bank faces the threat of a significant protest vote from shareholders at its annual meeting on May 4 if it has failed by then to line up someone for the role. – The Times

If you work in finance, being a woman is — still — bad for your career. Although the financial services industry is better informed than ever about gender discrimination, it has made almost no difference. That, at least, is how the sector is perceived, according to a survey of more than 700 women working for financial institutions in Europe and published today by Financial News, a sister publication of The Times. – The Times