Banks to present living wills to FSA - papers

Britain's largest banks will present their "living wills" to the FSA next month, ahead of the G20 summit of leading industrialised nations in South Korea.

The resolution plans detail how each bank might be speedily and smoothly wound down in the event of failure, writes the Independent.

A lack of such plans during the last financial crisis was blamed by many for contributing to the "too big too fail" problem.

The "living wills" will form part of talks about reform of the global banking system, to be held at the G20 on 11 and 12 November.

HSBC, Barclays, Royal Bank of Scotland, Standard Chartered, Lloyds Banking Group and Santander will all submit draft proposals next month.

Read more

Banks' report aims to blunt lending row

Britain's six biggest banks have commissioned a report to profile the creditworthiness of their business customers in a bid to break the deadlock with the Government over lending levels.

The banks, which include the Royal Bank of Scotland and Barclays, have agreed to pay pH, a subsidiary of Experian, the research company, to analyse the credit profiles of small businesses that are being refused funding, reports the Telegraph.

The data, which will be gathered over the next month and presented to the Treasury in October, will be used by the banks in an attempt to convince the Government not to intervene to force them to lend more to businesses.

Mervyn King, Governor of the Bank of England, has talked about the "heartbreaking" sight of so many UK businesses going under because of lack of credit. Britain's Federation of Small Businesses says 300 to 400 of its members are collapsing every week.

Read more

Manufacturing stages a record-beating recovery

A remarkable resurgence by the British manufacturing industry is reported today by the Engineering Employers' Federation (EEF).

Having endured the worst slump in three-quarters of a century, the EEF says the UK's industrial recovery "continues apace", with exports providing "an important boost", writes the Independent.

Investment appears to be picking up faster than in previous upswings.

The organisation says British manufacturers are continuing to report buoyant trading conditions on the back of rising demand in overseas markets, which points to "good prospects for growth in 2010".

Read more

Exit from eurozone is Greece's worst option - Jean-Claude Trichet

Greece's exit from the eurozone would be the "worst possible option", Europe's central bank chief said at the weekend amid concerns over the debt-stricken country's ability to pull itself out of crisis, reports the Guardian.

Ahead of a crucial week for prime minister George Papandreou, with threats of renewed civil unrest over government austerity policies in the run-up to the leader's keynote annual economic speech, the ECB president sought to squash speculation that Athens' only solution was to revert to the drachma.

Read more

10 million in line for rebate after tax fiasco

More than 10 million people may have paid too much income tax and will be owed money by the Government due to errors in the HM Revenue and Customs (HMRC) tax code system.

Many more workers and pensioners could also find themselves overpaying this year because of errors in the HM Revenue and Customs tax code system, writes the Telegraph.

HMRC admitted last week that 4.3 million people were in line for tax rebates because they overpaid a total of £1.8 billion in tax between 2008 and April this year.
A further 1.4 million face demands for repayment because they paid too little.

The tax body said the situation was a natural consequence of the Pay-As-You-Earn (PAYE) system, where pay and taxes are reconciled at the end of every year.

Read more