Thursday newspaper round-up: Sports Direct, Coutts, HSBC

Viewings of homes in London’s wealthiest areas have shot up almost 50 per cent since the EU referendum as buyers hunt for Brexit bargains in exclusive districts. Price falls in areas such as Chelsea and Knightsbridge have combined with the post-referendum drop in sterling to draw buyers back into the market, figures from estate agents Knight Frank show. – Financial Times

Sports Direct’s billionaire founder, Mike Ashley, is standing by his under-fire chairman, Keith Hellawell, despite independent shareholders in the sports retailer voting to oust the former police chief. An unprecedented 57% of independent shareholders failed to support Hellawell at the annual shareholder meeting on Wednesday, but Ashley insisted his chairman was staying put, for at least another year, and they would work together to improve the way the sports chain is managed. – Guardian

Mark Creasy, the British-born prospector who made his name cutting deals on gold mines in Australia, is to bring a South African venture to the London Stock Exchange. White Rivers Exploration, in which Mr Creasy holds a 64pc stake, is to list on the LSE in early 2017, as it pushes ahead with a joint venture in South Africa’s Witwatersrand gold province. – Telegraph

An ominous paper by the US Federal Reserve has become the hottest document in high finance. It was intended to reassure us that the world's hegemonic central bank still has ample firepower to overcome the next downturn. But the author was too honest. He has instead set off an agitated debate, and rattled a lot of nerves. – Telegraph

Coutts may have to pay hundreds of thousands of pounds in compensation to wealthy clients who claim they were badly advised by the Queen’s bank about investing in loss-making film production companies to avoid tax. Some 220 clients have filed a lawsuit against Coutts, along with UBS and other advisers, over a £100 million-plus bill they face in back taxes and interest from HM Revenue and Customs. – The Times

HSBC is facing a renewed threat of criminal prosecutions in the United States over alleged misconduct by several senior foreign exchange traders. The bank has had the threat hanging over it since 2012, when it paid $1.9 billion and admitted allowing Mexican drug traffickers to launder money and breaking sanctions when it did business with Iran and other nations. – The Times