Hoban to explain plans to disband FSA - papers

Mark Hoban, the City minister, will use a speech to an audience of top bankers and business leaders tomorrow to flesh out the coalition's plans to tear up Labour's regulatory system and disband the FSA.

The address will mark the beginning of a hectic 48 hours for the Treasury, as the coalition Government sets out its policy agenda for business before the summer recess, which will also tackle the drought in bank lending and efforts to reform the tax system, writes the Guardian.

The initial focus will be on City reform, where the coalition's plans to hand sweeping new powers for bank regulation to the Bank of England have not met with universal support and have raised concerns about whether the FSA will continue to be able to effectively police the City in the two years before it is shut down in 2012. FULL STORY...

Cable tells banks to start lending

Banks will be warned today that they face greater government regulation unless they "get their house in order" and boost their lending to cash-starved businesses, according to the Independent.

Ministers fear a shortage of credit for small- and medium-sized firms could scupper economic recovery. Private sector growth is crucial as the Government squeezes the public sector to cut the £155bn deficit.

In a Green Paper, the Business Secretary Vince Cable and Chancellor George Osborne will set out a "carrot and stick" approach aimed at breaking the lending logjam. FULL STORY...