Worried bankers lobby Darling at Davos - papers

Alistair Darling will hold secret talks with the heads of top British and American banks in Davos tomorrow who fear the impact of proposed tough new sanctions against the sector.

Bosses from HSBC, Barclays and Standard Chartered, and top executives from key American banks, including JP Morgan and Morgan Stanley, hope to persuade the Chancellor any moves to curtail the banks will also hit the global economy.

Peter Sands, group chief executive of Standard Chartered, one of the architects of last year's banking bailout, will host the talks, the Times reports.

The bankers are also expected to stress the damage an extension of this year's tax on bonuses could do to London's status as a financial capital. Full story...

STAFF PENSION contributions outstrip those made by their employers for the first time in nearly a decade, figures suggest, the Daily Mail reports.

In one year British companies cut the amount of money which they put into their employees' pensions by £4billion - a 9% cent drop.

Tom McPhail, head of pensions research at financial advisers Hargreaves Lansdown, says: 'The message is clear: funding your retirement is your problem, and no one is going to do it for you.' Full story...