Hope for Keydata savers; Friends Prov cuts - papers

HMRC has given the 30,000 Keydata Investment Services investors holding non-compliant Isas hope that they will not have to repay tax relief they expected on their investment or close their plans.

According to The Telegraph, HMRC said that it was working with PricewaterhouseCoppers, the administrators, with a view to protecting the tax position of Isa investors as far as possible.

A spokesman said that it was HMRC's normal practice is to seek to recover any tax arising from any breach of the Isa rules from the Isa manager rather than from individual investors. Full story...

FRIENDS Provident, the FTSE 100 insurer, is believed to be considering consolidating its offices across the South of England, which could result in job losses, writes The Independent.

The chief executive, Trevor Matthews, is believed to have asked his former Standard Life colleague Tony Brown, managing director of people and change at the company, to assess the viability of offices in Dorking, Salisbury and Exeter where nearly 2,000 work.

A source said: "Consolidation makes absolute sense. They are a legacy of the past so the creation of one central, cost effective location, seems spot on."

Friends Provident has already radically scaled back its Manchester operation. The insurer said last year it was culling 600 jobs ahead of a strategic review by Mr Matthews, which eventually saw the company retain its Lombard business and spin off its stake in the struggling F&C fund manager. Full story...

TESCO, Britain's biggest supermarket chain, is building its first shopping centre as part of its expansion into China, according to The Times.

The company, which has 64 stores in China, is building a development in Fushun, an industrial city of one million in the northeast of the country, which is expected to be a trailblazer for future developments.

The Fushun mall, scheduled to open this year, will contain half a million square feet of space and, in addition to a Tesco hypermarket, will include a food court, a gym and 500 residential apartments. Full story...

And finally...

Don't mention the B-word. The London-based insurance company Willis Group is anxiously trying to play down its British roots as it battles American hostility over a plan to lend its name to a towering midwestern landmark, writes The Guardian.

In a ceremony next month, Chicago's 110-storey Sears Tower which, at 442 metres (1,450ft), is the tallest building in North America, will be rechristened as the Willis Tower in a multimillion-dollar naming rights deal. The locals are not impressed.

An online petition condemning the change has attracted 33,000 signatures. A Facebook group attacking the new name has 95,000 members and the letters pages of Chicago's papers have been peppered with scornful digs at the building becoming "Big Willie". Full story...

scott.sinclair@incisivemedia.com