Tuesday newspaper round-up: Banks, Sainsbury's, trains, retailers
Financial institutions are coming under pressure from countries in the European Union to relocate more of their business from London ahead of Brexit, the City regulator has warned. Andrew Bailey, chief executive of the Financial Conduct Authority, said that companies were being lobbied to move operations to rival trading centres as countries look to maximise the amount of business they win from Brexit at the expense of the City. - The Times
Tesco has said that the proposed merger of J Sainsbury and Asda should not go ahead unless “extensive remedies” are provided by its rivals. Britain’s biggest retailer made the remarks in a hearing with the Competition and Markets Authority, which is investigating the supermarkets’ proposed combination. Tesco also questioned the rationale behind the merger and suggested that it could lead to higher petrol prices in some areas. - The Times
The long-standing boss of Glencore has fired the starting gun on a three to five year succession race among the commodity giant’s bright young executives with plans to step down in the early 2020s. Ivan Glasenberg revealed that he is eyeing four candidates within the FTSE 100 miner which show the potential to fill his role after an almost 20 year tenure. - Telegraph
Fares should be frozen for passengers most affected by the upheaval in rail timetabling in May, MPs have demanded. A scathing report by the transport select committee said the chaotic change to the schedules on 20 May, which led to the cancellation or severe disruption of thousands of train services in the ensuing weeks, should be the catalyst for reform, including automatic compensation schemes. - Guardian
Retail tycoon Mike Ashley wants to see a 20pc tax levied on online sales and prison sentences for executives who consistently "fiddle" their way out of paying the levy, as part of his plan to save the country's "dying" high streets. He said any companies with more than 20pc of their sales generated online should have to pay the tax, which would "level the playing field" in the retail sector and give local councils more money to help encourage people to shop close to home, such as offering free parking. - Telegraph
Mike Ashley has said that Debenhams needs to consider shedding stores using a company voluntary arrangement and should work more closely with the rival he owns, House of Fraser. In comments that will do little to dispel speculation that the billionaire founder of Sports Direct wants eventually to merge House of Fraser with Debenhams, he said that the latter was struggling because of the weight of its rent bill. - The Times
Big businesses have been accused of bullying small suppliers by pushing payment terms beyond 60 days and charging them to be paid. Several high street chains, including Holland & Barrett, Waterstones and Thomas Cook, take more than two months to pay suppliers on average, in contravention of a voluntary code of best practice, leaving smaller companies out of pocket for what are often urgently needed proceeds. - The Times
A former director of Takeda has claimed that investors holding up to a quarter of the Japanese drugs maker’s shares could vote against its £46 billion takeover of Shire tomorrow. However, Kazuhisa Takeda, a member of the founding family and a rebel shareholder, conceded that the level of opposition was unlikely to succeed in blocking the deal. - The Times
More than 500,000 British workers have been swept into working poverty over the past five years, according to a report that shows the number of people with a job but living below the breadline has risen faster than employment. The Joseph Rowntree Foundation (JRF) said that the number of workers in poverty hit 4 million last year, meaning about one in eight in the economy are now classified as working poor. - Guardian
More than a quarter of all retail floor space in England and Wales disappeared in the aftermath of the 2008 financial crisis, research has shown, as the industry struggled with the shift to online purchases. The amount of shop space fell in all but five of 348 local authorities analysed in the study by academics at Northumbria University, Newcastle. - Guardian
The boss of Britain’s biggest peer-to-peer lender has pledged to take market share from the UK's main high street lenders after the City watchdog awarded the business a banking licence. The licence means that Zopa, which started life as an “eBay for money” service in 2005, can now start testing banking products such as deposit accounts and credit cards. It applied for a licence two years ago. - Telegraph
Amazon briefly become the world’s most valuable publicly-listed company for the first time on Monday. The online shopping giant briefly overtook Microsoft, which itself overtook Apple last week, ending the iPhone maker's five-year run at the top. - Telegraph