Wednesday newspaper round-up: poll shock, Ladbrokes, Allied Irish, BT

Britain’s biggest bookmaker weakened rules designed to tackle money laundering and problem gamblers in order to increase profits, a whistleblower claims. A former Ladbrokes Coral employee has exposed tactics that the company used to encourage customers to increase betting on fixed odds betting terminals (FOBTs). - The Times

The Irish government has finally pushed the button on its planned €12bn (£10.4bn) float of Allied Irish Banks in what could be one of the biggest initial public offerings in London in recent years. The Irish state currently owns around 99.9pc of AIB, and plans to float 25pc of its stake on the London and Irish stock exchanges. - Telegraph

BT faces a strike threat after unions said they will consider industrial action if the company presses ahead with the closure of its final salary pension scheme. The firm's defined-benefits pension scheme has more than 300,000 members, and although the scheme had been closed to new entrants in 2001, existing members continue to build up benefits. - Telegraph

Three former Tesco directors charged with fraud are seeking to have the case against them dismissed, arguing that no false accounting took place. Barristers for Carl Rogberg, John Scouler and Christopher Bush have indicated that they will argue that there is no case to answer and that Tesco should not have restated its profits in a move that ultimately contributed to the grocer suffering a record loss in 2014. - The Times

Brussels is preparing to crack down on accountants and lawyers running tax-avoidance schemes in response to the Panama Papers scandal that showed how the rich and powerful hide their money. Jean-Claude Juncker, the European commission president, told MEPs on Tuesday that he would table a draft law before the end of June that aims to shed light on experts who help clients exploit tax laws and shift money to offshore tax havens. - Guardian

British Airways was still struggling to return baggage to passengers late on Tuesday as it attempts to salvage its battered reputation and investigate the cause of a computer system outage that left 75,000 people stranded at the weekend. Cancelled holidays and chaotic scenes at Heathrow and Gatwick airports over the bank holiday weekend have been followed by reports of passengers’ baggage being forwarded to destinations abroad while its owners were unable to travel. - Guardian

Steven Cohen, the American hedge fund boss whose firm was shut by the US government three and a half years ago, is planning to return with a record-breaking $20 billion fund after his industry ban expires next year, according to reports last night. The new fund would exceed the $16 billion that Mr Cohen once oversaw as the boss of SAC Capital, which closed in 2013 after a long-running insider trading investigation. - The Times

The labour market in Japan is at its tightest in more than 43 years with employers struggling to fill gaps in the workforce and more jobs available than at the peak of the country’s bubble economy in 1990. Government data showed the ratio of job openings to applications in April hit 1.48 in Japan. That means there were 148 jobs available for every 100 applicants. - The Times

One of Britain’s best-known luxury housebuilders has acquired its first site in Birmingham in more than a decade. Berkeley Group, a FTSE 250 company that predominantly caters to the upper end of the London housing market, is believed to have acquired a plot of two and a half acres on the site of a former factory close to Birmingham city centre. - The Times

The easyJet founder, Sir Stelios Haji-Ioannou, has promised to give more than half of his £2bn fortune to charity after he was “inspired” by the world’s richest man, the Microsoft billionaire and philanthropist Bill Gates. Haji-Ioannou said he had signed up to the Giving Pledge, an organisation founded by Gates and fellow billionaire Warren Buffett, which asks the world’s wealthiest people to give away the majority of their money. - Guardian