Bernanke expects more big bank break-ups - papers

America's wave of new financial regulation is likely to prompt the country's biggest financial institutions to break themselves up, according to the chairman of the Federal Reserve.

It has taken Congress almost two years to pass legislation designed to prevent a repeat of a crisis that toppled the country into its worst recession since the Great Depression, reports the Telegraph.

The Dodd-Frank law sets out to establish new protection for consumers, equip regulators with greater power to dismantle failing companies, and make it harder for firms to engage in riskier trades thinking the taxpayer will bail them out if they fail.

"My belief is that a combination of tougher oversight and tighter capital requirements will take away the attractiveness [of being big]," Ben Bernanke told the Financial Crisis Inquiry Commission (FCIC) in Washington DC.

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US jobless figures set to raise fears of double dip

Investors are bracing themselves for another grim snapshot of the US labour market today, when the government is expected to confirm that unemployment is again on the rise.

The release of monthly US employment data has become a touchstone for global financial markets, which are looking for clues as to whether the world's largest economy might slide into a double-dip recession, writes the Independent.

The consensus of economists' forecasts is that the US shed 80,000 jobs in August, with public-sector employment being particularly hard hit because of budget problems for many of the 50 states.

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Union dubs RBS job cuts a 'horror story'

The job cuts at Royal Bank of Scotland are turning into a "horror story", according to union Unite, as the total number of staff made redundant in the UK by the bank since its partial nationalisation topped 20,000.

In an announcement to staff in its business centres across Britain, RBS yesterday said it was cutting another 3,500 jobs, taking the total number of UK-based staff made redundant to 20,600, writes the Telegraph. 

Workers unions Unite described the cuts as a "horror story" for the UK and said it was "appalled" by the bank's actions, which come only a month after it reported a profit for the first half of the year of £1.1bn.

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'Imaginative' banks slipped under Darling's super-tax

Bankers sabotaged a tax on massive bonuses by using their financial expertise to keep hold of their wealth, Alistair Darling has admitted.

The Labour former chancellor said his supertax on bank bonuses simply did not work because of the ‘imaginative' tactics used by the people it was targeting, reports the Mail.

The 50% tax on bonuses over £25,000 was deeply unpopular in the City of London.

Last year, 26 London-based banks and financial institutions had to comply with a new FSA pay code, and had to pay a one-off 50% bonus tax which netted the Treasury £2bn.

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