Tuesday newspaper round-up: Floods, Tsipras, cybersecurity
Insurance experts believe the floods in Cumbria will cost the industry less than other similar events during the past decade despite the scenes of devastation across the county. Analysts said the impact appeared to be less than in previous incidents such as the floods in 2005 in Carlisle, which cost £272m according to the Association of British Insurers, those in the summer of 2007, which cost £3bn, and floods in the winter of 2013/14, which cost £451m. – Financial Times
Alexis Tsipras has insisted his fragile coalition will prevail in tough negotiations with Greece’s creditors over pension reform, and dismissed suggestions he will have to seek backing from pro-European opposition parties in Athens to stay in power. “I feel quite secure with . . . 153 seats and it’s not my aim or intention to broaden my government,” the Greek prime minister said on Monday on state television. “It’s only two months, after all, since we received a new popular mandate.” – Financial Times
Owners of heavily polluting diesel generators stand to make “sky-high” profits under a government energy regime that has slashed subsidies for wind and solar, a report warns. The annual capacity market auction – under which power suppliers bid for contracts to feed electricity into the grid – is due to begin on Tuesday. Calculations by the Institute for Public Policy Research (IPPR) suggest “diesel farm” owners can expect to make millions if they succeed with bids to supply 1.5 gigawatts. - Guardian
Britain’s top cybersecurity experts are billing major companies more than £10,000 a day to protect vulnerable IT systems from sophisticated hackers, according to recruiter Manpower. Less experienced experts can still charge more than £3,000 a day to tackle the escalating threat to sensitive digital information. – Guardian
Former Prime Minister Gordon Brown has been appointed to a new advisory board at Pimco, the world’s largest bond manager. The company, which has endured a turbulent couple of years after its founder and star investor left in acrimonious circumstances, has created a five-member board to advise on "global economic, political, and strategic developments and their relevance for financial markets". It will be Mr Brown’s first major corporate role since leaving Downing Street five years ago. – Telegraph
Volkswagen will reveal details of its investigation into the emissions scandal this week as it resists pressure from Qatar, its third-largest shareholder, to weaken the grip of unions on its board. Matthias Müller, who took over as chief executive after Martin Winterkorn stepped down, faces growing concerns over VW’s secretive internal inquiry and restructuring plans. – The Times
BT’s pension fund has withdrawn a bond mandate of more than £8 billion from its former in-house retirement scheme manager in an attempt to cut costs, reducing the fund’s assets under management by nearly a third. Hermes Investment Management confirmed that it had lost an £8.4 billion contract to manage a portfolio of inflation-linked bonds on behalf of BT Pension Scheme, which has opted to move from a more expensive “active” mandate to a cheaper “passive” one. – The Times