What the other papers say this morning
FINANCIAL TIMES
TPG LOSES ANOTHER SENIOR ASIA EXECUTIVE
Mary Ma, a Chinese executive at TPG Capital, is leaving to start a fund, joining other mainland executives from western buy-out firms who will start out on their own. Ma, former chief financial officer of Lenovo, joined TPG’s Asia team as managing director and a partner in 2007.
EX-REGULATOR CALLS FOR RETURN OF BANK DIVIDENDS
Weak banks and those in receipt of state aid must be allowed to resume dividend payments while they build their capital reserves or the broader economy will suffer, a former top US bank regulator has warned. “Preventing profitable banks from paying reasonable dividends impedes bank lending and economic growth,” Bill Isaac, former US Federal Deposit Insurance Corporation chairman, said.
INVESTORS SIGNAL APPETITE FOR GREEN BANK PLAN
Nick Clegg will on Thursday seek to thrash out an agreement on the size and scope of the green investment bank as a clutch of Britain’s biggest institutional investors write to David Cameron signalling they would be willing to invest in the government’s flagship initiative. Investors representing over £500bn in assets told the prime minister that they would have appetite for green investment bank bonds.
BAD FORECASTS HURT BANK’S REPUTATION
Austerity, snow and banks’ health have all perturbed economic forecasters this past year. Many complain they now also have a rather erratic central bank to deal with. It is impossible to find respected economists who believe the conspiracy theory that the Bank of England’s monetary policy committee is deliberately trying to inflate away Britain’s debts.
THE TIMES
TAXPAYER FACES LOSSES ON BANK’S MONEY-PRINTING SCHEME
The Bank of England is at risk of recording billions of pounds of losses on its money-printing scheme as government bond values sink, according to analysts. Estimated profits on the Bank’s holdings of UK government bonds, or gilts, have fallen from £26 billion in August last year to £10 billion today, according to research by Henderson Global Investors.
FOUNDERS TO MAKE £60M AS WILLIAMS TRIES TO HARNESS POWER OF THE PLC
The founders of Williams Grand Prix will make up to £60 million when it becomes the first Formula One team to float its shares. Sir Frank Williams said that the team would be valued at about €265 million (£225 million) after its stock market listing early next month.
The Daily Telegraph
SKY JOINS FORCES WITH HBO TO MAKE SECOND SERIES OF STRIKE BACK
BSkyB is to make its first co-production with the American cable network HBO/Cinemax, in a deal thought to be worth over £10m. The agreement will see Sky’s SAS drama Strike Back, made by the independent production company Left Bank Pictures, return for an extended second series of 10 episodes.
QE SAFEGUARDED 3M AMERICAN JOBS, SAYS FEDERAL RESERVE CHIEF BEN BERNANKE
The Federal Reserve’s quantitative easing programme may have safeguarded 3m jobs in the US, Ben Bernanke told Congress, as he also sought to dismiss concerns about the threat of inflation. The central bank’s chairman said that recent work research at the Fed suggested that the two rounds of QE have provided real support to the country’s jobs market.
THE WALL STREET JOURNAL
HEDGE FUNDS HURT BY BETS AGAINST EURO
The euro’s gyrations this year have taken hedge funds by surprise, saddling some of the biggest names in the currency markets with losses. FX Concepts, an $8 billion currency-focused hedge fund in New York, struggled with losses as Europe’s shared currency unexpectedly surged last month.
OIL-DRILLING BOOM UNDER WAY
Oil-drilling activity in the U.S. has accelerated to a pace not seen in a generation as energy companies, oilfield contractors and landowners rush to exploit newly profitable sources of crude. The number of rigs aiming for oil in the U.S. is the highest since at least 1987, according to Baker Hughes Inc. The 818 rigs tallied last week are nearly double last year’s count.