Facebook To Remove Adverts From Adult Pages

Facebook will stop advertisements appearing on pages containing sexual or violent content after a number of companies suspended their campaigns.

Marks and Spencer and BSkyB, the parent company of Sky News, were among those to pull their adverts from the social networking site because of concerns about placement.

It led Facebook to announce a tightening of its review process, preventing promotions from appearing on pages and groups which contain offensive content.

"Our goal is to both preserve the freedoms of sharing on Facebook but also protect people and brands from certain types of content," a spokesman said in a blog post.

"We know that marketers work hard to promote their brands and we take their objectives seriously.

"While we already have rigorous review and removal policies for content against our terms, we recognise we need to do more to prevent situations where ads are displayed alongside controversial pages and groups."

In the first three months of the year, 85% of Facebook's revenue came from advertising - up 43% on the same quarter in 2012.

Advertisers paid a total of $1.25bn (£820m) to promote their products and services to the website's reported 665 million daily active users.

The company is paid around 3% more per advert than it was 12 months ago.

Facebook said its advertising review process will be manual at first but an automated system is expected to launch within weeks.

The spokesman added: "Like any digital platform, we're not going to be perfect but we will be much better.

"We'll continue to work aggressively on this issue with advertisers.

"We're confident the immediate steps we're taking will result in a significantly improved approach to preventing these instances from occurring, and we're committed to making this process work for everyone who uses Facebook."

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The Sky News Business Look Ahead

Sky's Naomi Kerbel offers a look ahead to what's coming up in the week's business news.

:: Monday July 1

Bank of England - Mark Carney's five-year term begins

Croatia - European Union accession

:: Tuesday July 2

Ocado Group interim results

OECD Consumer Price Indices

:: Wednesday July 3

Bowie memorabilia auction at Bonhams

:: Thursday July 4

Monetary Policy Committee Meeting - interest rate decision

European Central Bank Governing Council - interest rate decision 

:: Friday July 5

MPs vote on the EU Referendum Bill

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Crown Post Office Staff Stage Strike Action

By Emma Birchley, East of England Correspondent

Post Office workers have gone on strike over plans to close 70 state-owned branches and a dispute over pay.

The closing Crown branches - which are currently directly managed by Post Office Ltd - would be franchised and put within retailers such as WH Smith, which has already happened in some towns.

Debbie Spiteri, who works at the Dagenham branch in Essex, has been employed by the Post Office for 32 years and said she thought she had a job for life.

"I thought I would be here until I retired in my 60s, but now it looks like I may be made redundant, looking for another job and at my age I didn't want to be doing that," she said.

"I feel sorry for the local people. A lot are elderly and if they have to go somewhere else, they won't. They won't go into a shop to do their business because to them they want the personal touch."

The Post Office insists staff will be transferred to a new employer or offered voluntary redundancy, but the Communication Workers Union predicts 800 jobs will be lost.

Roger Gale, general manager of the Post Office's Crown and WH Smith network, said the changes are needed.

"It's absolutely not a programme of closing post offices," he said.

"We want to retain post office services on the high street but we have to do it in a way that doesn't lose tax-payers' money.

"What we're trying to do is get the Crown Network to a point where it breaks even. It currently loses £37m a year of tax-payers' money and what we're trying to do is to remove that loss."

The 373 Crown offices, which are usually the larger ones, represent just 3% of the total post office network.

But the CWU says its staff deal with a fifth of all customers and handle 40% of financial transactions involving things like banking and credit cards.

Clive Tickner, the CWU's representative for the Dagenham area, questions the timing as the Post Office launches its new current account.

"Ironically, if they close down Crown offices there will be less outlets to transact the current account so I'm very, very concerned that they are eroding away at the Post Office so that there will be nothing left in a few years' time," he said.

There is also concern about the impact on the high street.

Deborah Satchell works at Heathway Dry Cleaners in Dagenham.

She said: "It will affect the local shops because people will go elsewhere to do what they have got to do and it will take the business away from the local community."

The strikes are the seventh round of action in the current dispute and will only affect the Crown branches.

Staff are also calling for a pay rise of 3.5% for 2012/13 and a further rise this financial year, but the Post Office says that is not possible when it is making losses.

Instead, it is offering a series of cash payments totalling up to £3,400 before April 2015.

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Facebook To Remove Adverts From Adult Pages

Facebook will stop advertisements appearing on pages containing sexual or violent content after a number of companies suspended their campaigns.

Marks and Spencer and BSkyB, the parent company of Sky News, were among those to pull their adverts from the social networking site because of concerns about placement.

It led Facebook to announce a tightening of its review process, preventing promotions from appearing on pages and groups which contain offensive content.

"Our goal is to both preserve the freedoms of sharing on Facebook but also protect people and brands from certain types of content," a spokesman said in a blog post.

"We know that marketers work hard to promote their brands and we take their objectives seriously.

"While we already have rigorous review and removal policies for content against our terms, we recognise we need to do more to prevent situations where ads are displayed alongside controversial pages and groups."

In the first three months of the year, 85% of Facebook's revenue came from advertising - up 43% on the same quarter in 2012.

Advertisers paid a total of $1.25bn (£820m) to promote their products and services to the website's reported 665 million daily active users.

The company is paid around 3% more per advert than it was 12 months ago.

Facebook said its advertising review process will be manual at first but an automated system is expected to launch within weeks.

The spokesman added: "Like any digital platform, we're not going to be perfect but we will be much better.

"We'll continue to work aggressively on this issue with advertisers.

"We're confident the immediate steps we're taking will result in a significantly improved approach to preventing these instances from occurring, and we're committed to making this process work for everyone who uses Facebook."

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The Sky News Business Look Ahead

Sky's Naomi Kerbel offers a look ahead to what's coming up in the week's business news.

:: Monday July 1

Bank of England - Mark Carney's five-year term begins

Croatia - European Union accession

:: Tuesday July 2

Ocado Group interim results

OECD Consumer Price Indices

:: Wednesday July 3

Bowie memorabilia auction at Bonhams

:: Thursday July 4

Monetary Policy Committee Meeting - interest rate decision

European Central Bank Governing Council - interest rate decision 

:: Friday July 5

MPs vote on the EU Referendum Bill

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Crown Post Office Staff Stage Strike Action

By Emma Birchley, East of England Correspondent

Post Office workers have gone on strike over plans to close 70 state-owned branches and a dispute over pay.

The closing Crown branches - which are currently directly managed by Post Office Ltd - would be franchised and put within retailers such as WH Smith, which has already happened in some towns.

Debbie Spiteri, who works at the Dagenham branch in Essex, has been employed by the Post Office for 32 years and said she thought she had a job for life.

"I thought I would be here until I retired in my 60s, but now it looks like I may be made redundant, looking for another job and at my age I didn't want to be doing that," she said.

"I feel sorry for the local people. A lot are elderly and if they have to go somewhere else, they won't. They won't go into a shop to do their business because to them they want the personal touch."

The Post Office insists staff will be transferred to a new employer or offered voluntary redundancy, but the Communication Workers Union predicts 800 jobs will be lost.

Roger Gale, general manager of the Post Office's Crown and WH Smith network, said the changes are needed.

"It's absolutely not a programme of closing post offices," he said.

"We want to retain post office services on the high street but we have to do it in a way that doesn't lose tax-payers' money.

"What we're trying to do is get the Crown Network to a point where it breaks even. It currently loses £37m a year of tax-payers' money and what we're trying to do is to remove that loss."

The 373 Crown offices, which are usually the larger ones, represent just 3% of the total post office network.

But the CWU says its staff deal with a fifth of all customers and handle 40% of financial transactions involving things like banking and credit cards.

Clive Tickner, the CWU's representative for the Dagenham area, questions the timing as the Post Office launches its new current account.

"Ironically, if they close down Crown offices there will be less outlets to transact the current account so I'm very, very concerned that they are eroding away at the Post Office so that there will be nothing left in a few years' time," he said.

There is also concern about the impact on the high street.

Deborah Satchell works at Heathway Dry Cleaners in Dagenham.

She said: "It will affect the local shops because people will go elsewhere to do what they have got to do and it will take the business away from the local community."

The strikes are the seventh round of action in the current dispute and will only affect the Crown branches.

Staff are also calling for a pay rise of 3.5% for 2012/13 and a further rise this financial year, but the Post Office says that is not possible when it is making losses.

Instead, it is offering a series of cash payments totalling up to £3,400 before April 2015.

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Payday Loans Firms Face Competition Inquiry

The Office of Fair Trading (OFT) has confirmed it is to refer the payday loans market to the Competition Commission to investigate "deep-rooted" problems.

It announced its decision following a period of consultation, having already issued the market's biggest participants with an ultimatum to clean up their act or risk being closed down.

The OFT said it decided to make the referral because it continues to suspect that features of the market "prevent, restrict or distort competition" and it could not tackle them under existing laws.

The areas of concern include:

:: Practices that make it difficult for consumers to identify or compare the full cost of payday loans, undermining competition over price for loans.

:: Barriers to switching between lenders when loans are rolled over that prevent other lenders competing for this business.

Payday firms are accused of making loans that cannot be paid back in time

:: Variable levels of compliance with relevant laws and guidance leading to firms that do invest time and effort complying being at a competitive disadvantage to firms that do not.

:: A significant proportion of borrowers have poor credit histories, limited access to other forms of credit and/or a pressing need to borrow. The cost of the loan may therefore be a less significant factor for borrowers, which may weaken competition on price between lenders.

The watchdog said it was also worried that lenders were competing primarily on the availability and speed of loan approval, rather than price and that some business models appeared to be predicated on making loans which were unaffordable, leading to borrowers paying far more than expected through rollovers, additional interest and other charges.

It said lenders appeared to derive up to 50% of their revenue from such practices.

The OFT had previously identified a series of other issues, including lenders not carrying out proper affordability checks before lending or rolling loans over.

Consumer groups say many penalties for late payments are extortionate

Firms were also accused of failing to explain adequately how payments will be collected and acting aggressively to claw back debts.

The OFT said it expected responses by the end of July from all 50 payday lenders it contacted earlier this year, giving them 12 weeks to demonstrate they complied fully with their legal obligations.

To date, five of the 50 lenders have informed the OFT that they have left the payday market while three firms not included in the crackdown have had their consumer credit licences revoked.

Clive Maxwell, OFT chief executive, said "We have seen evidence of financial loss and personal distress to many people.

"The Competition Commission can now conduct a detailed investigation to get to the root causes and, if necessary, use its far reaching powers to fix the payday lending market."

Payday lenders expressed disappointment at the OFT's decision and urged the commission to take into account their own attempts to clean up the industry and give borrowers more protection.

Russell Hamblin-Boone, chief executive of the Consumer Finance Association, said: "No other sector has faced such intense scrutiny in such a short space of time.

"We would have preferred the inquiry to have been deferred to allow the significant improvements that lenders have made to take effect."

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Double-Dip: Recession Never Actually Happened

The Office for National Statistics (ONS) says updates to its past calculations on the performance of the UK economy mean Britain was never in a double-dip recession after all.

Revised GDP data showed that output was actually flat in the first three months of 2012 - rather than shrinking as had first been measured - meaning there was no second recession.

The ONS credited a stronger contribution to growth from the construction sector.

But that was where the good news ended for the Chancellor George Osborne as there were downgrades to other key economic indicators.

The ONS said the original recession in the wake of the financial crisis was deeper than had been previously found, with growth contracting by 7.2% instead of 6.3%.

The body said that output was now 3.9% below its pre-recession peak - again worse than previously reported.

While growth in the first three months of 2013 was unrevised at 0.3%, the year-on-year growth estimate was unexpectedly halved to 0.3%.

A more detailed breakdown of the data also showed the pressures faced by consumers as real household spending plunged by 1.7% in the first three months of 2013 - the largest drop for 26 years.

Consumers were hit by falling wages and rising inflation, according to the ONS.

Business investment also fell, by 1.9% quarter-on-quarter to £27.3bn.

However, the recovery is expected to pick up in the second quarter, with GDP forecasted to grow by 0.5%, although economists say it remains possible that incoming governor of the Bank of England, Mark Carney, may choose to follow Sir Mervyn King in backing more quantitative easing to boost money in the economy.

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Church Of England Backs £1bn RBS Branches Bid

By Mark Kleinman, City Editor

The Church of England's endowment fund is backing a bid for more than 300 Royal Bank of Scotland (RBS) branches amid intense pressure on the banking industry to reorient its moral compass.

Sky News can exclusively reveal that the Church of England Commissioners, who manage £5.5bn of investments, have agreed to plough the money into a consortium being led by Lord Davies, the former trade minister.

The development comes a week after a parliamentary commission whose members included the Archbishop of Canterbury, Justin Welby, published a wide-ranging group of recommendations aimed at reforming the City's ethics and governance.

The size of the Church Commissioners' investment in the consortium attempting to buy a substantial stake in the 316 RBS branches is unclear, although it is expected to be measured in the millions of pounds.

The other members of the bidding group are Corsair Capital, a private equity firm where Lord Davies is a partner; Centerbridge, an American investment firm; RIT Capital, a vehicle headed by Lord Rothschild; and Standard Life, the insurance and pensions group.

The consortium wants to buy a major stake in the network ahead of an initial public offering on the stock market.

Insiders believe the Church Commissioners' involvement will enhance the consortium's appeal to the board of RBS and the Treasury, which is likely to play an important role in deciding the outcome of the £1bn auction.

The Corsair bid is vying with another offer comprising around two dozen big City institutions such as Foreign & Colonial, Schroders and Threadneedle Investments. A third bid involving Blackstone and AnaCap, two private equity firms, is still in the frame but is thought to have only an outside chance of buying the branches.

All of the bidders are now conducting due diligence on the branch network, with a decision expected in the coming weeks about a preferred buyer. RBS may decide to float the business on the stock market in the conventional way, or it could do so in conjunction with the sale of a minority stake.

The branches auction was triggered by Santander UK's withdrawal from a deal last year to buy the network, citing IT challenges.

RBS was ordered to offload the network, which has a roughly 5% share of the UK business banking market, by the European Commission in 2009 in return for the £45.5bn of state aid required to rescue the bank.

It is not unprecedented for the Church Commissioners to invest in a corporate bid of this kind, although it is thought to be the first time that they have sanctioned participation in a consortium bid for British banking assets.

The church fund holds a wide range of equities, property and other assets, but does not invest in industries such as tobacco or payday lending.

The Commissioners' fund aims to generate an annual return of RPI plus 5%. According to its annual report the private equity part of its portfolio, which invests in unlisted companies, achieved a return of 2.9%, while it made new private equity commitments during the year of almost £25m.

The Church Commissioners also hold shares in Barclays, and said in the recent annual report of their Ethical Investment Advisory Group that the bank's involvement in the industry-wide Libor-rigging scandal demonstrated that it had "lost sight of its fundamental role in society and its wider obligations".

"We have engaged intensively with Barclays since last June, including at Board level. We have been encouraged by the determination of the bank's new leadership to turn a corner and to foster a more ethical culture," it said.

"However, ethical conduct cannot simply be enforced. We will know that Barclays has truly transformed when it inspires its staff to make sustainable profits through serving its customers and fulfilling its fundamental role in society."

Last week, Antony Jenkins, the chief executive who replaced Bob Diamond in the wake of the Libor debacle, joined the Archbishop of Canterbury at a City debate about banking ethics.

"In the last 10 years, banks adopted remuneration policies that meant that a relatively small number of employees took such a large part of the overall revenues as to make it impossible for the widest number to benefit – or for there to be adequate capital, in some cases, for the enterprise to remain self-sustaining," said Dr Welby.

Many of the recommendations of the Parliamentary Commission on Banking Standards, including deferring bankers' pay for 10 years and cancelling their pensions in the event that their institution requires taxpayer support, are designed to restore public trust in the industry.

The Treasury will issue its detailed response to the report next month.

In a speech at Mansion House last week, George Osborne, the Chancellor, said there was a case for examining whether the sale of the RBS branch network, which has the code-name Project Rainbow, and a larger set of assets by Lloyds Banking Group would go far enough to enhancing competition in British banking.

A spokesman for the Church Commissioners declined to comment on the fund's involvement in the RBS bid.

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China: US Factory Boss 'Hostage' Speaks Out

An American company boss who is being detained by workers in a Chinese factory has been speaking about his ordeal from behind the metal bars of his office window.

Staff at the Beijing medical supply plant co-owned by Chip Starnes have been holding him for five days in a pay dispute.

He said about 80 workers have been blocking exits around the clock and depriving him of sleep by shining bright lights on his office.

Union officials say Mr Starnes has failed to pay wages for two months, and staff at the factory fear the business is about to close without any promise of severance packages.

Mr Starnes, 42, denied the workers' allegations of unpaid wages and put it down to a "miscommunication".

He said of his "intimidating" captivity: "The first couple of days were very, very tough - nothing physical, more mental type of stuff going on ...

Workers at the factory push journalists away

"Standing around you, anywhere you walk - 14, 16, 18 people following you, walk towards the gate, gate's completely blocked, all accesses.

"They have little shifts where they cover all the exits and entrance points."

He described the dispute as disappointing and said he was keen for it to be resolved internally.

About 100 workers are demanding packages similar to those received by 30 workers at the plastics division of the Florida-based firm, Speciality Medical Supplies, which is moving to India.

One worker, Gao Ping, said she wanted to quit because she had not been paid for two months.

Chu Lixiang, a local union official representing the workers, said they were demanding the portion of their salaries yet to be paid and a "reasonable" level of compensation before leaving their jobs.

Mr Starnes' lawyer visited him on Tuesday.

Similar disputes have happened at other businesses in China after a history of workers sometimes being unprotected when factories close.

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Italian Football Clubs Raided In Tax Probe

Police have raided 41 Italian football clubs, including 18 of the 20 Serie A sides, as part of a tax and money-laundering investigation.

Documents were seized and premises searched in an apparently coordinated operation early on Tuesday as officers hunted for evidence of tax evasion and irregularities over the buying and selling of players.

The other clubs involved in the inquiry were 11 B league teams and 12 from the lower brackets, a police spokesman confirmed.

Though none of the team names were officially released, both the Reuters and AP news services reported that sources within the police and judiciary had suggested that top clubs Lazio and Juventus were among the clubs involved in the inquiry.

The probe also included 12 player agents and a number of foreign clubs.

Tottenham fans were attacked in a pub in Rome last year

The spokesman said the operation was ordered by a court in Naples in connection with crimes of criminal conspiracy, international tax evasion, money laundering and invoice falsification.

A statement by Naples prosecutors added that the clubs involved in the searches were under investigation for alleged conspiracy to avoid payment of "huge amounts of money" to tax authorities during the transfer of players.

Italian football is no stranger to scandal on or off the pitch - with match-fixing allegations and hooliganism among its other problems.

A major match-fixing scandal in 2006 involved some of Italy's top clubs, including Juventus, AC Milan, Lazio and Fiorentina.

Telephone wiretaps at the time showed alleged attempts by club managers - mostly Luciano Moggi, a now disgraced, ex-Juventus executive - to influence referee appointments.

The scandal sent shock waves across football-crazed Italy before the World Cup in Germany.

Spurs fan Ashley Mills was stabbed in Rome

Juventus, who were Serie A champions, were relegated to the second division for the first time in their history, and were stripped of the 2005 and 2006 titles.

Other problems have marred Italian football, from violence to low attendance at many of the nation's ageing stadiums.

Tottenham fans were among those to feel the force of Italian football violence last November when a mob of about 50 assailants, armed with sticks, iron bars and paving stones, launched a frenzied assault on them at a pub in Rome ahead of a Europa League game against Lazio.

Lazio "Ultras" - fanatical supporters - were initially suspected of the attack but two fans of cross-town rivals Roma were later charged with the attempted murder of one Spurs fan who was stabbed.

Coaches and players have been among dozens implicated in match-fixing in a country where the courts have extraordinary powers to order arrests and inquiries into allegations of wrongdoing.

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Market Mayhem: Europe Volatile Amid Fightback

European stock markets are tentatively putting on some weight after China moved to reassure investors that its credit tightening policy would not damage liquidity.

Asian stock markets suffered steep falls during much of Tuesday's session - with the Shanghai Composite Index entering bear market territory, analysts said, following falls of more than 5% at one stage on top of steep declines on Monday.

But Tuesday's losses were largely erased in late-trading - with Shanghai just 0.2% down - after the People's Bank of China (PBC) moved to clarify its earlier intervention, aimed at curbing a cheap credit boom.

The worry for investors - particularly those in small banks - was that higher commercial lending rates would damage the banks and growth in the world's second-largest economy.

The crackdown left markets in China particularly fearing a liquidity squeeze.

Prices correct at 08:25 BST On Tuesday

Shanghai's stock index had endured its biggest loss in four years on Monday while the pain was also felt worldwide, with the US and European markets falling back further, having already been spooked in recent weeks by the prospect of the US Federal Reserve easing its $85bn-a-month bond-buying programme.

A top US central banker warned on Monday against market attempts to lift the yields on US Treasuries and stop plans to slow the Fed's stimulus.

Richard Fisher, who is president of the Dallas Federal Reserve, told the Financial Times that "feral hogs" would not break the Fed's resolve.

The FTSE 100 share index lifted 0.7% in early trading on Tuesday from five-month lows while there were stronger gains on the continent which were all seen as adding value because of under-valued stocks.

Price correct at 08:30 BST On Tuesday

The London market has lost more than 10% of its value since concerns first arose last month about the prospect of Fed stimulus easing.

In his final evidence session to the Treasury Select Committee as governor of the Bank of England, Sir Mervyn King said he believed that markets had "jumped the gun" about when central banks were likely to start raising base interest rates, amid the stimulus debate.

He said: "I think people have rather jumped the gun thinking this means an imminent return to normal levels of interest rates. It doesn't."

He added that economic growth would need to be stronger before interest rates could be increased.

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Boeing 787 Dreamliner In Emergency Landing

A Boeing 787 Dreamliner jet operated by United Airlines has been forced to make an emergency landing due to a problem with its brake system.

United said in a statement that the unscheduled landing occurred on a domestic flight in the United States over the weekend.

"United flight 94 from Houston to Denver returned to Houston Sunday due to a brake indicator issue," the US carrier said.

"Following standard operating procedures, as a precautionary measure, the flight landed in emergency status.

"The aircraft landed safely at 11.58am and our maintenance team is conducting a review of the aircraft."

A Boeing spokeswoman said the problem with the braking system forced the plane "back to base," without giving details of the malfunction or how long it might take to repair it.

Batteries overheated on two Japanese Dreamliners in January

Boeing sent a field service representative to the scene in Houston to help the airline with the problem.

The dual concerns were getting the aeroplane back into service and dealing with the flight's stranded passengers.

Last week, United said a Dreamliner on its way to Tokyo from Denver was forced to land in Seattle as a precaution.

Regulators and investors are keenly following the progress of the Dreamliner, Boeing's first predominantly carbon-fibre aircraft.

It was more than three years late getting into service after a number of production setbacks.

Introduced by airlines in late 2011, the Dreamliner was grounded in January after batteries overheated on two Japanese jets in quick succession.

It resumed commercial service in May after Boeing installed a redesigned battery system, based on a beefed-up housing, on the 50 jets in service.

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Vodafone Lines Up £9bn Kabel Deutschland Deal

Mobile phone giant Vodafone is poised to buy Germany's biggest cable operator in a deal worth £9.1bn, it has been confirmed.

The addition of Kabel Deutschland's 8.5 million connected households would leave Vodafone with 32.4 million mobile, 5 million broadband and 7.6 million direct TV customers in 13 of Germany's 16 states.

Kabel Deutschland was "an attractive platform for TV and fixed broadband in Germany and creates a leading integrated operator with pro forma revenues of approximately 11.5 billion euros," Vodafone said in a statement.

The latest offer, which has been backed by Kabel Deutschland's management and supervisory boards, has a total value of £9.1bn when including £2.5bn of debt.

The acquisition, however, could still be derailed by rival interest from US media group Liberty Global.

Vodafone's proposal is worth 87 euros (£74) a share and is thought to better an earlier rival bid from Liberty, owner of Virgin Media, at 85 euros (£72) a share.

The British company has been expanding its presence in Germany recently, announcing a tie-up with Deutsche Telekom to offer pay-TV over high-speed broadband to its customers.

Germany has been one of Vodafone's better-performing markets in Europe, while its Mediterranean region has been hit hard during the downturn.

Chief executive Vittorio Colao said: "German consumer and business demand for fast broadband and data services continues to grow substantially.

"As customers increasingly access TV, fixed and mobile broadband services from multiple devices in the home and workplace, and on the move."

Early trading in London saw shares in Vodafone rise 1.18% before easing to 0.8%, meanwhile Kabel Deutschland shares in Frankfurt added 1.7%.

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Banks Unveil New Mobile Payments Service Zapp

By Mark Kleinman, City Editor

A new mobile money system that could broaden ownership of one of the fastest-growing areas of the financial services industry is to be unveiled days after a damning report criticised big banks' stranglehold on Britain's payments infrastructure.

Sky News understands that VocaLink, which is owned by the major high street lenders, will on Tuesday announce the creation of Zapp, which will allow consumers to make instant payments from their bank accounts using only their mobile phone numbers.

Launching to consumers early next year, Zapp will enter an increasingly-crowded space as banks and technology providers rush to introduce new payment mechanisms.

The Zapp concept has been developed with £16m of initial funding from VocaLink and its shareholders, but will require up to £100m to finance its launch in 2014.

Retailers, mobile phone networks and merchant acquirers will be invited to acquire stakes of up to 10% in Zapp, which is to be run by Peter Keenan, a former executive at HSBC and the electrical goods retailer Currys.

VocaLink's systems process more than 90% of UK salary transfers, more than 70% of household bills and almost all state benefits, while its technology powers the Bacs and Direct Debit schemes.

Its involvement in the launch of Zapp is viewed by senior bankers as a crucial way of demonstrating to the Government an industry-wide commitment to accelerating payments.

In its final report last week, the Parliamentary Commission on Banking Standards called for more work to be conducted on measures to bolster competition in retail banking, and included recommendations that banks should relinquish control of the payments network and of a fuller investigation of the merits of bank account portability.

"The current arrangements, whereby a smaller bank can only gain access to the payments system via an agency agreement with one of the large banks with which it is competing, distort the operation of the market," the report said.

"The Government's proposed reforms will, however, continue to leave ownership of the payments system largely in the hands of the large incumbent banks.

"Continued ownership of the payments system by the large banks could undermine the proposed reforms, in view of the scope such ownership gives them to create or maintain barriers to entry.

It added: "The Commission therefore recommends that the merits of requiring the large banks to relinquish ownership of the payments system be examined and that the Government report to Parliament on its conclusions before the end of 2013."

The new Zapp service will work by linking a bank account to a mobile phone number, and would, VocaLink believes, help small businesses by speeding up payments at a time when many entrepreneurs are being held back by cashflow problems.

Some banks have already launched their own instant payment services, including Barclays' Ping-It application. Zapp would go much further by introducing a single system across the industry, and is expected to be backed by all of the major high street banks.

David Yates, chief executive of VocaLink, told Sky News that Zapp would assist with policy-makers' objective of "speeding up the UK economy as we get back to growth".

The company says its systems are involved in processing every interbank payment in Britain, last year handling 10 billion payments worth nearly £4.5trn.

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Diesel Drivers 'Get Worse Deal' In Fuel War

The cost of filling up at the pumps has edged up over the last month, with diesel drivers getting a worse deal than those using petrol, according to new figures from the AA.

The average price of petrol in the UK has risen from 133.35p a litre in mid-May to 134.61p in mid-June, while diesel has gone up from 138.17p a litre to 139.16p.

Northern Ireland has the most expensive petrol, at an average of 135.8p a litre, with London having the cheapest, at 134.61p.

Northern Ireland also has the dearest diesel (139.8p a litre) with London and south west England having the least expensive (139.1p).

The AA said the slight rise in average petrol prices nationally represented "something of a lull" after the 8-10p swings in prices over the last 12 months.

But it warned that this year retailers have on average been "creaming up to £1 a tank extra off diesel car drivers and up to £1.40 a tank extra off diesel van owners".

The AA went on: "At present, the 1p-a-litre premium that fuel stations are generally adding to the cost of diesel adds 5,500 miles to the break-even point for a new car buyer who chooses diesel instead of petrol.

"Diesel cars typically cost £1,500 more but the saving from better fuel efficiency should eventually recoup that."

AA President Edmund King said: "To be fair, there is often much greater variation in the price of diesel among retailers in a town than with petrol.

"However, on average, the profit margin on diesel is consistently at least a penny higher than with petrol.

"The clear message to diesel drivers is to take advantage of the greater range of prices locally. Some forecourts are more diesel-friendly than others."

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Football Streaming Website Faces Legal Action

Internet service providers in the UK could be forced to block a Swedish-based website which streams live football matches.

The Premier League is in the process of requesting a court order that would make ISPs effectively ban their customers from accessing www.FirstRow1.eu.

The planned legal action by the football governing body follows moves made by the music and film industries.

They have successfully blocked websites which offer the opportunity to download copyrighted material, such as Pirate Bay, under Section 97 of the 1988 Copyright, Design and Patent Act.

The Premier League has agreed a new worldwide television deal worth around £5.5bn over three years, starting with the new season.

BT has paid £246m to the Premier League for three years and BSkyB, the parent company of Sky News, has invested £760m in its football coverage for the next three seasons.

The Premier League has written to the major UK ISPs, which also include Virgin Media and TalkTalk, to outline its plans to apply for a court order to block www.FirstRow1.eu.

The proposals are expected to be put forward by the end of the month.

Should the court order be granted, the ISPs would then have to contest the application, or comply and restrict access.

It is understood that indications are the ISPs have no plans to go against any such application.

The Premier League has for many years monitored various websites during live matches and enforced the removal of any streaming content which breaches copyright.

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Osborne: Economy 'Leaving Intensive Care'

Chancellor George Osborne will claim the British economy is "moving from rescue to recovery" as he unveils his fresh round of spending cuts for Whitehall.

Mr Osborne will deliver his spending review on Wednesday, setting out £11.5bn of cuts in Government departments in the year after the next General Election.

He has confirmed a deal on defence spending will mean further job cuts at the Ministry of Defence - but no reduction in military manpower.

Alongside the cuts the Chancellor will announce plans for an infrastructure plan to "power Britain back into the economic premier league", using savings to invest in roads, railways, education and science.

Final details of the spending review are still being worked out, with reports suggesting some ministries, including Vince Cable's Business Department, are yet to agree their settlements.

Mr Osborne is expected to tell MPs on Wednesday: "Britain is moving from rescue to recovery. But while the British economy is leaving intensive care; now we need to secure that recovery.

"Full recovery won't be easy but I won't let up in my determination to put right what went so badly wrong. We are already making progress: the economy is growing, more than a million new jobs have been created by British businesses and the amount the government has to borrow each year - the deficit - is down by one third.

Ed Balls calls on Mr Osborne to pump money into the economy

"But there's more we have to do - it's time for the next stage of our economic plan."

Mr Osborne has come under pressure to invest in capital projects in order to help the fragile recovery and he will give details of  "a long term infrastructure plan".

He will say: "We're saving money on welfare and waste to invest in the roads and railways, schooling and science our economy needs to succeed in the future.

"I know that times are still not easy for families. But we have a clear economic plan. We've stuck to it. It is working. And I'm determined to go on delivering it. Now, together, we're moving Britain from rescue to recovery let's build an economy that works for everyone."

Shadow chancellor Ed Balls urged Mr Osborne to pump money into the economy now in order to reduce the need for cuts in two years' time.

Writing in the Sunday Mirror, he said: "Instead of planning more cuts two years ahead, they should use this week's spending review to boost growth and living standards this year and next year.

"More growth now would bring in more tax revenues and mean our public services would not face such deep cuts in 2015."

He said the Government should boost lending to businesses with a new British Investment Bank and reintroduce the 10p income tax band.

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Watchdog Urges Faster Energy Tariff Reform

The energy watchdog's proposals for a "simpler and fairer" energy market have drawn a mixed response from consumer groups, as the regulator called on suppliers to adopt them "as quickly as possible".

Regulator Ofgem has told suppliers to limit themselves to four "core" tariffs each for electricity and gas and for each type of payment, while all information suppliers send to consumers must be "simplified, more engaging and personalised".

Suppliers will use a new Tariff Comparison Rate (TCR), which the regulator claims will help to simplify the selection process for consumers.

And new enforceable standards of conduct will enable Ofgem to take action against suppliers where they have failed to treat customers fairly.

Today Ofgem launched the last statutory consultation before it decides whether to implement "the most radical reforms to the retail market since competition began".

The reforms are expected to come into effect from the summer, but Ofgem said there was nothing to stop suppliers moving to deliver them now.

Ofgem senior partner for markets, Andrew Wright, said: "Our reforms today are the blueprint for the simpler, clearer and fairer energy market that consumers deserve.

"This will provide them with the choices they want alongside the simplicity they need.

Both electricity and gas companies have used complex tariff systems

"They have been delivered following two years of engagement with consumers and industry in the most comprehensive ever review of the retail market.

However consumer watchdog Which? said it was "hugely disappointing" that Ofgem had pressed ahead with the TCR format.

Which? executive director Richard Lloyd said: "While these new rules will help make the market simpler and fairer it's hugely disappointing to see the regulator sticking to its fundamentally flawed idea of how energy prices should be presented.

"This will fail to help people find the best deal easily and could even mislead millions into paying over the odds for their energy."

Trade association Energy UK defended the firms and said: "Energy suppliers have already pressed ahead with providing customers with simpler, clearer tariffs.

"Our members have dramatically reduced the number of tariffs, simplified structures and pledged to help all customers move to the deal that suits them best."

But Energy Secretary Ed Davey has continued to push for faster reform and said: "I welcome the continued progress of Ofgem's reform of the retail energy market.

"It's simply scandalous that over eight in 10 of households, including the most vulnerable, are put off switching or engaging in the energy market.

"That's why I'm backing Ofgem's reforms to make it easier to compare tariffs and switch suppliers. These reforms are the fastest way to speed up delivery of simpler bills and a fairer system."

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Diesel Drivers 'Get Worse Deal' In Fuel War

The cost of filling up at the pumps has edged up over the last month, with diesel drivers getting a worse deal than those using petrol, according to new figures from the AA.

The average price of petrol in the UK has risen from 133.35p a litre in mid-May to 134.61p in mid-June, while diesel has gone up from 138.17p a litre to 139.16p.

Northern Ireland has the most expensive petrol, at an average of 135.8p a litre, with London having the cheapest, at 134.61p.

Northern Ireland also has the dearest diesel (139.8p a litre) with London and south west England having the least expensive (139.1p).

The AA said the slight rise in average petrol prices nationally represented "something of a lull" after the 8-10p swings in prices over the last 12 months.

But it warned that this year retailers have on average been "creaming up to £1 a tank extra off diesel car drivers and up to £1.40 a tank extra off diesel van owners".

The AA went on: "At present, the 1p-a-litre premium that fuel stations are generally adding to the cost of diesel adds 5,500 miles to the break-even point for a new car buyer who chooses diesel instead of petrol.

"Diesel cars typically cost £1,500 more but the saving from better fuel efficiency should eventually recoup that."

AA President Edmund King said: "To be fair, there is often much greater variation in the price of diesel among retailers in a town than with petrol.

"However, on average, the profit margin on diesel is consistently at least a penny higher than with petrol.

"The clear message to diesel drivers is to take advantage of the greater range of prices locally. Some forecourts are more diesel-friendly than others."

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Viagra 'Price Drop' As Drug Patent Expires

The cost of Viagra could drop dramatically from today as the UK patent for the drug expires.

The male erectile dysfunction drug, manufactured by American firm Pfizer in Ireland, must now compete against dozens of generic competitors.

There are some 120 alternative versions made worldwide, with some costing as little as 85p per pill.

Sky News understands that Pfizer will release its cheaper, generic 'white diamond' version on June 22. It will also continue to sell the original version.

The drug prompted many jokes - including these 'Viagra-infused' oyster cans

In the UK it has been available as prescription-only medicine since 1999, and nicknamed by company employees as the 'Pfizer Riser'.

Unwittingly, it has also spurred billions of unsolicited spam emails, as online entrepreneurs tried to cash in on perceived embarrassment surrounding asking the doctor for the little blue pill.

The new price drop has the potential to save the NHS millions in prescription costs.

A generic competitor to Viagra, marketed as 'Happigra'

The Health & Social Care Information Centre told Sky News that in 2011-12 there were 1.28 million Viagra prescriptions dispensed across the country.

The 'net ingredient cost' was £39.8m, which includes the cost of the drug before any discounts. It also excludes any dispensing costs or fees.

Pfizer promoted the drug and targeted men interested in sports

According to Pfizer sources, Viagra has been a bigger name in the public's consciousness than in the company's rota of top drugs.

Sildenafil citrate, the pharmaceutical name for Viagra, has been produced by the firm in twice-annual production runs at facilities at Ringaskiddy in Cork.

It is then sent to warehousing facilities in Belgium, prior to regional despatch.

Pfizer is expected to continue producing the drug while simultaneously developing a second generation medicine that can be packaged in a smaller pill.

The company previously took bold advertising steps to market the drug, including sponsorship of racing cars and using veteran Brazilian football player Pele as a spokesman.

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Diesel Drivers 'Get Worse Deal' In Fuel War

The cost of filling up at the pumps has edged up over the last month, with diesel drivers getting a worse deal than those using petrol, according to new figures from the AA.

The average price of petrol in the UK has risen from 133.35p a litre in mid-May to 134.61p in mid-June, while diesel has gone up from 138.17p a litre to 139.16p.

Northern Ireland has the most expensive petrol, at an average of 135.8p a litre, with London having the cheapest, at 134.61p.

Northern Ireland also has the dearest diesel (139.8p a litre) with London and south west England having the least expensive (139.1p).

The AA said the slight rise in average petrol prices nationally represented "something of a lull" after the 8-10p swings in prices over the last 12 months.

But it warned that this year retailers have on average been "creaming up to £1 a tank extra off diesel car drivers and up to £1.40 a tank extra off diesel van owners".

The AA went on: "At present, the 1p-a-litre premium that fuel stations are generally adding to the cost of diesel adds 5,500 miles to the break-even point for a new car buyer who chooses diesel instead of petrol.

"Diesel cars typically cost £1,500 more but the saving from better fuel efficiency should eventually recoup that."

AA president Edmund King said: "To be fair, there is often much greater variation in the price of diesel among retailers in a town than with petrol.

"However, on average, the profit margin on diesel is consistently at least a penny higher than with petrol.

"The clear message to diesel drivers is to take advantage of the greater range of prices locally. Some forecourts are more diesel-friendly than others."

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Watchdog Urges Faster Energy Tariff Reform

The energy watchdog's proposals for a "simpler and fairer" energy market have drawn a mixed response from consumer groups, as the regulator called on suppliers to adopt them "as quickly as possible".

Regulator Ofgem has told suppliers to limit themselves to four "core" tariffs each for electricity and gas and for each type of payment, while all information suppliers send to consumers must be "simplified, more engaging and personalised".

Suppliers will use a new Tariff Comparison Rate (TCR), which the regulator claims will help to simplify the selection process for consumers.

And new enforceable standards of conduct will enable Ofgem to take action against suppliers where they have failed to treat customers fairly.

Today Ofgem launched the last statutory consultation before it decides whether to implement "the most radical reforms to the retail market since competition began".

The reforms are expected to come into effect from the summer, but Ofgem said there was nothing to stop suppliers moving to deliver them now.

Ofgem senior partner for markets, Andrew Wright, said: "Our reforms today are the blueprint for the simpler, clearer and fairer energy market that consumers deserve.

"This will provide them with the choices they want alongside the simplicity they need.

Both electricity and gas companies have used complex tariff systems

"They have been delivered following two years of engagement with consumers and industry in the most comprehensive ever review of the retail market.

However consumer watchdog Which? said it was "hugely disappointing" that Ofgem had pressed ahead with the TCR format.

Which? executive director Richard Lloyd said: "While these new rules will help make the market simpler and fairer it's hugely disappointing to see the regulator sticking to its fundamentally flawed idea of how energy prices should be presented.

"This will fail to help people find the best deal easily and could even mislead millions into paying over the odds for their energy."

Trade association Energy UK defended the firms and said: "Energy suppliers have already pressed ahead with providing customers with simpler, clearer tariffs.

"Our members have dramatically reduced the number of tariffs, simplified structures and pledged to help all customers move to the deal that suits them best."

But Energy Secretary Ed Davey has continued to push for faster reform and said: "I welcome the continued progress of Ofgem's reform of the retail energy market.

"It's simply scandalous that over eight in 10 of households, including the most vulnerable, are put off switching or engaging in the energy market.

"That's why I'm backing Ofgem's reforms to make it easier to compare tariffs and switch suppliers. These reforms are the fastest way to speed up delivery of simpler bills and a fairer system."

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Google Faces Criminal Action Over Data Theft

Internet giant Google has been threatened with criminal proceedings if it does not destroy personal data collected from wifi networks.

The internet giant has been handed an enforcement notice by the Information Commissioner's Office (ICO) after further personal data unlawfully collected by its Street View cars was discovered.

The watchdog has demanded that it destroy four discs containing information it took from unsecured wifi networks.

Google had previously pledged to destroy all data collected in this manner - but admitted last year that it had "accidentally" retained the additional discs.

The ICO has warned Google that failure to comply with the legal order will be considered as contempt of court, which is a criminal offence.

A statement from the ICO said an investigation found that the collection of payload data by the company was the result of procedural failings and a serious lack of management oversight, including checks on the code behind the software.

But, it added, the investigation also found there was insufficient evidence to show that Google intended, on a corporate level, to collect personal data.

Stephen Eckersley, ICO Head of Enforcement, said: "Today's enforcement notice strengthens the action already taken by our office, placing a legal requirement on Google to delete the remaining payload data identified last year within the next 35 days and immediately inform the ICO if any further disks are found.

"Failure to abide by the notice will be considered as contempt of court, which is a criminal offence." 

"The early days of Google Street View should be seen as an example of what can go wrong if technology companies fail to understand how their products are using personal information.

"The punishment for this breach would have been far worse, if this payload data had not been contained."

The ICO's decision followed the reopening of its investigation into the Google Street View project in April last year.

The decision followed the publication of a report by the US Federal Communications Commission (FCC), which raised concerns around the actions of the engineer who developed the software previously used by the cars, and his managers.

The ICO added that its investigation into whether Google's privacy policy complies with the Data Protection Act is on-going.

This investigation is part of coordinated action by data protection regulators across Europe, to assess whether Google's latest privacy policy clearly explains how individuals' personal information is being used across the company's products and services.

The ICO said it would shortly be writing to Google to confirm its preliminary findings.

Google has yet to make a comment.

More follows...

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Regulator Reveals £27.1bn UK Bank Shortfall

A City regulator has revealed the capital holes at UK banks total £27.1bn - with Royal Bank of Scotland (RBS) facing the biggest shortfall.

The Prudential Regulation Authority (PRA) said that while the collective 'black hole' was more than the £25bn it originally estimated, the banks involved have plans in place to raise £13.7bn by the end of the year.

The PRA put the RBS shortfall at £13.6bn, Lloyds at £8.6bn and Barclays at £3bn - all measured from the end of 2012.

The Co-op needed to raise £1.5bn and Nationwide £400m.

All the banks had previously announced ways to plug the gaps in their finances, the PRA said, while it also confirmed that HSBC, Standard Chartered and Santander UK did not need to bolster their capital cushions.

Share prices correct at 08.04am Thursday June 20

The figures were announced just hours after the Chancellor George Osborne confirmed he was progressing with the sale of the taxpayers' stake in Lloyds but had put the brakes on an imminent return to the private sector for RBS.

While those developments were digested by investors this morning, bank shares and the wider FTSE 100 were also hit after comments from the US Federal Reserve which confirmed that bond purchases to support America's economy would soon be slowed.

Barclays, Lloyds and RBS said they were confident in their ability to meet the PRA's requirements, which are designed to ensure that banks are strong enough to withstand any future financial shocks but at the same time do not hamper their ability to lend in support of the economic recovery.

Lloyds said it was making better than expected progress on boosting its balance sheet.

A spokesman said: "Lloyds Banking Group's strong capital position means that we now expect to have a fully-loaded Core Tier 1 ratio of above 9% by end of June 2013, six months ahead of our previous guidance, and approximately 10% by the end of 2013, a year ahead of guidance."

Lloyds and RBS already confirmed last month they would not need to tap investors for extra cash to shore up their finances.

RBS said actions being taken would reduce its capital shortfall to £400m by the end of the year, adding it aimed to resolve the remainder within the first quarter of next year.

Barclays said it was "confident" of boosting its capital by the end of the year and would not need to make a cash-call to investors.

It is slashing costs across the business, while also selling certain assets and confirmed plans to further boost finances through contingent convertible securities, known as CoCos, which automatically convert to equity should capital levels fall.

More follows...

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UK Retail Sales Jump On Discounting

UK retail sales jumped in May as supermarket discounting and online business drove a better-than-expected performance for the sector.

The Office for National Statistics (ONS) said that volumes rose 2.1% in May following a 1.1% fall the previous month - partly blamed on bad weather hitting demand for summer fashions.

Today the statisticians pointed to a 3.5% month-on-month rise in food sales in May - the strongest rise in two years - aided by supermarkets offering promotions amid a bitter price war to secure customer loyalty.

Non-store retailing, which includes online sales, grew by 4.3% with online now accounting for 9.7% of all retail revenue.

The ONS added that all types of stores saw business pick up, with discounted summer fashions helping sales of clothes, shoes and textiles rise 1.4% on the month.

The performance will boost hopes that consumer spending - so crucial to hopes of a sustained economic recovery - is on the rise despite the continuing squeeze on household incomes driven by low wage growth at a time of rising prices, such as energy bills.

Economists had widely predicted a rise of just 0.8% in sales volumes for May.

Ahead of the release of today's figures, the market learned that Dixons Retail - the owner of Curry's and PC World - had achieved a strong last financial year despite big costs associated with its online operation, Pixmania.

While it reported a pre-tax loss of £115.3m, its UK and Ireland operations made profits of £82.5m in the wake of rival Comet's collapse though Dixons chief executive Sebastian James insisted that was not the only factor behind the growth.

Pixmania made a loss of £182.4m due to a writedown in the value of the business and the cost of closing stores and laying off staff.

Similarly, Ted Baker confirmed it had seen a big rise in sales - up 30.7% year on year over the 20 week period to June 15 - with revenues jumping 32.7% compared to the same time last year.

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Mortgage Lending Surges 21% In A Month

Further evidence has emerged that the housing market is growing at a stronger than expected pace amid fears of a new 'bubble', driven by Government funding schemes.

The Council of Mortgage Lenders (CML) said that lending soared by 21% in May compared with April, with an estimated £14.7bn worth of mortgages advanced in the month.

It was, the CML said, the highest level of estimated monthly gross lending since October 2008.

The body had previously predicted that activity would pick up this year, boosted by Government efforts to unblock the housing market such as its Funding for Lending scheme, but the CML said that May's strong acceleration surpassed even its own expectations.

It suggested the strong uplift could be in part down to the bad weather seen earlier this year creating "pent up" demand.

Its chief economist Bob Pannell said: "Funding conditions, helped by the Funding for Lending scheme, continue to look favourable and are supporting more competitive mortgage pricing and availability and a gradual resumption of lenders' risk appetite.

"While the direction of travel is clear and fits well with the more positive housing surveys from RICS (Royal Institution of Chartered Surveyors) and others, our forward estimate does imply somewhat stronger house purchase activity than we had been expecting.

"This may reflect a degree of pent up sales following the extended spell of poor weather earlier this year".

Lenders have been slashing their mortgage rates and mortgage availability has generally increased since the Funding for Lending scheme, which gives lenders access to cheap finance to help borrowers, was launched last August.

Other Government schemes such as NewBuy and Help to Buy have been specifically launched to help people with smaller deposits.

Earlier this week, property search website  Rightmove said that house sellers' average asking prices had broken through the quarter of a million pounds milestone for the first time.

The figure added to concerns that the Government's schemes risk causing a housing "bubble", with mortgage borrowers trying to stretch their finances too far as happened before the financial crisis.

The Chancellor George Osborne has previously stated that the schemes have a limited shelf life and were a response to would-be homeowners being unable to get on the housing ladder.

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Chancellor Orders RBS To Accelerate US Sale

By Mark Kleinman, City Editor

George Osborne is putting pressure on Royal Bank of Scotland (RBS) to accelerate its exit from the US retail banking market, Sky News understands.

People familiar with discussions between the RBS board and the Chancellor say he has urged the bank  in recent weeks to accelerate a stock market flotation of Citizens, one of the largest retail banks in the US, which has been pencilled in for 2015.

John Kingman, a senior Treasury official, wrote to Sir Philip Hampton, the RBS chairman, in the last few days to spell out the department's views about the bank's strategy, insiders said.

As well as an accelerated flotation of Citizens, these include analysis of a potential split of RBS into separate good and banks, with Ulster Bank, its troubled Irish subsidary, being examined to see whether its can be carved out of RBS.

Mr Osborne is expected to refer to RBS's previously-announced plans to offload Citizens and the structural review of the group, including the assets held in Ulster Bank, in his Mansion House speech tonight, although he is unlikely to say publicly that he wants the Citizens sale to be sped up.

The Chancellor will point out that the bank has already been radically reshaped, but that further work is necessary in order to prepare it for eventual privatisation of the stake that cost taxpayers £45.5bn in 2008.

He will also reiterate his view that RBS should become a UK-focused retail and commercial bank.

Aides said that Mr Osborne's speech was still being finalised and that the directness of the language relating to RBS "could be toned down" between Wednesday morning and the speech.

RBS announced a decision in February to begin selling Citizens in 2015, saying:

"The Board has decided it is now the right time to begin work on a partial flotation of Citizens, our US banking business, targeted probably at around 2 years from now. Citizens is a good business, serving around 5m customers in the north east of the United States where it is has a strong market position. It has been substantially improved since 2009 and a local public listing will help to highlight its growing value. This provides a positive opportunity for Citizens and its 14,700 employees, as well as being a sensible move for RBS as a whole."

Mr Osborne's Mansion House speech will come a week after Stephen Hester, RBS chief executive, said he would step down later this year, with a search now underway for his successor.

The chief executive was effectively forced out by the Chancellor after it was made clear that the Government wanted a replacement to oversee the eventual sale of its 82% stake in the bank.

Mr Osborne is understood to have become frustrated with Mr Hester's resistance to Treasury interference in the bank's strategy, such as repeated demands to shrink its investment banking operations.

Sources say the review of the 'good bank, bad bank' structure, including the Ulster Bank operations, will be undertaken by the Treasury with the assistance of external advisers from an unnamed investment bank.

Mr Osborne will be more positive about the state's involvement in Lloyds Banking Group, saying that the time is approaching when a sale of the Government's 40% stake would be possible.

He will, however, emphasize that value for money will be the principal consideration ahead of any share sale.

RBS and the Treasury declined to comment.

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Bankers Should Face Jail Terms, Report Says

By Mark Kleinman, City Editor

A new criminal offence punishing bankers for "reckless misconduct" while running their institutions is the centrepiece of proposals unveiled by a group of MPs and peers aimed at reforming the industry.

The Parliamentary Commission on Banking Standards (PCBS), which was set up after last summer's Libor-manipulation scandal led to Barclays being fined £290m, said in its final report that all areas of British banking required urgent change.

Citing "a profound loss of trust born of profound lapses in banking standards", the commission said a string of measures were needed to repair the industry's reputation.

In its 553-page report called Changing Banking For Good, the PCBS argued that individual accountability among senior bankers was lamentable, that industry pay schemes required a radical overhaul, and that executives should face a new sanctions regime that would dish out appropriate penalties, replacing a system that "looked good but achieved little".

It also said, as expected, that the Treasury's strategy for managing its 82% stake in Royal Bank of Scotland (RBS) was not working adequately and that options, including analysis of a break-up of the bank, should be conducted in the coming months.

The commission's hard-hitting recommendations underline the scale of public anger that so few British bank executives have faced punishment over the crisis that led to hundreds of billions of pounds of public money being put at risk to rescue them.

Only a small handful of senior bankers have been sanctioned by regulators for their roles prior to the bailouts of 2007 and 2008, while relatively few have been hit in the pocket despite mis-selling scandals such as the one involving payment protection insurance.

Andrew Tyrie, the Conservative MP who chaired the commission, said that senior bankers had hidden "behind an accountability firewall" but warned that governments and regulators had also been culpable for the decline in standards.

Among the concrete measures recommended by the PCBS are:

:: The introduction of a new criminal offence for reckless misconduct that would carry a custodial sentence.

:: Bankers' pay should be deferred for up to 10 years and should be more closely aligned to the safety and soundness of a firm.

:: Regulators should gain powers to cancel the pay and pensions of executives at banks which require taxpayer support.

:: UK Financial Investments, the body responsible for managing taxpayers' stakes in Lloyds and RBS, should be scrapped.

:: New senior persons and licensing regimes to ensure that regulators can take tougher action against bankers whose actions damage their employer's reputation or finances.

:: Reforms aimed at bolstering competition in retail banking, including, as Sky News revealed this month, a review of the costs and benefits of full current account portability.

Parts of the banking industry, whose main lobbying group the British Bankers' Association refused to respond on camera to the report, are expected to argue that some of the proposed reforms would undermine the City's international competitiveness.

Measures to defer pay for up to a decade would go further than any other major banking centre, but the PCBS argued that it was essential to do so if the industry's culture was to be genuinely reformed.

"The scale of remuneration in banking, the way it has been set and the form in which it has been paid have all incentivised misconduct and excessive risk-taking. The rewards for fleeting, often illusory, success have been huge, while the penalties for failure have been much smaller, or non-existent," it said.

"Many bankers were on to a one-way bet. Unlike unlimited liability partnerships, they had little or no skin in the game."

The Government is expected to consult on the PCBS recommendations that would require legislative change.

In a statement, the Treasury welcomed the commission's report, saying there were "many recommendations in it which will help the government's plan to create a stronger and safer banking system".

"The Government publicly welcomes the commission's recommendations on increased personal responsibility especially at a senior level, increased professional judgement by regulators and better functioning markets.

"We will now get on with a swift response and will report before the summer recess."

In his annual Mansion House speech on Wednesday night, George Osborne is likely to back the commission's call for a review of the options for the Government's stake in RBS, according to Treasury aides.

Vince Cable, the Business Secretary, also welcomed the report, backing calls for banks to relinquish ownership of the payments system and for a new approvals regime for bank staff.

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Dreamliner Diverted In Latest Boeing Setback

A Boeing 787 Dreamliner has landed safely after being diverted when pilots were made aware of a potential oil filter problem.

In the latest of a series of setbacks for the new model, United Airlines said a Dreamliner on its way to Tokyo from Denver was forced to land in Seattle as a precaution.

The planes were only recently returned to the skies after regulators grounded them worldwide due to overheating in lithium-ion batteries.

There was no initial indication that any problem with the plane on Tuesday was related to batteries.

"United flight 139 from Denver to Tokyo diverted to Seattle due to an indication of a problem with an oil filter," United said in a statement.

"The aircraft landed normally and without incident and we are working to re-accommodate customers."

Boeing said it was aware of the issue and was working with United and General Electric Co on the problem.

Regulators and investors are keenly following the progress of the 787 Dreamliner, Boeing's first predominantly carbon-fibre aircraft, which was more than three years late getting into service after a number of production setbacks.

Introduced by airlines in late 2011, the Dreamliner was grounded in January after batteries overheated on two Japanese jets in quick succession.

It resumed commercial service in May after Boeing installed a redesigned battery system on the 50 jets in service.

Two other planes are known to have suffered technical problems with engines since - but none of those were understood to be serious.

One Singapore-bound Dreamliner, operated by ANA, had to turn back in mid-flight because of a problem with the anti-icing system.

Thomson Airlines and British Airways are among UK operators buying the planes, attracted by the promise of lower fuel costs.

While Boeing has announced billions of dollars in deals at the Paris Air Show as well as the launch of a stretched version of its next-generation Dreamliner 787, it is still trailing behind Airbus in new plane orders.

So far, Boeing has racked up $29.2bn (£18.7bn) in firm orders or purchase agreements against $36bn £23bn) for the European aircraft manufacturer.

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Record Air Fare Rises Push Inflation Higher

The annual rate of inflation was driven higher than expected in May as air fares rose by record levels, according to the Office for National Statistics (ONS).

The rebound in the CPI measure of inflation to 2.7% - which followed a surprise dip to 2.4% in April - was also blamed on fuel prices increasing but the ONS said the biggest contributing factor was a 22% jump in airline ticket costs between April and May.

The ONS said that prices rose across European, long-haul and domestic flights though higher air fares were not necessarily linked to the early timing of the Easter holidays.

Overall transport prices rose by 0.4% between April and May.

The price of clothing and footwear also rose 1.2% month on month to tighten the squeeze on households, as the cost of women's outdoor clothing increased during a colder-than-normal month.

But food and drink prices helped hold back inflation, with price falls for meat, vegetables, fruit, sugar, sweets and jams.

Stubbornly high inflation is expected to peak around 3% over the next few months ensuring a summer of pain for consumers, though the Bank of England has forecast it will fall back towards its 2% target more quickly than originally expected.

Rising energy bills coupled with high fuel and tuition fees have been among the inflationary pressures facing households in recent years at a time of below-inflation pay rises.

The resulting squeeze in spending has been among the factors holding the UK economy back from stronger growth.

The Treasury gave its reaction to the inflation number by pointing to the fact that the CPI measure was down by almost a half from its peak of 5.2% in 2011.

A spokeswoman said: "To help families with the cost of living, the Government has increased the tax-free personal allowance to £10,000, which will take 2.7 million people out of income tax altogether and save a typical taxpayer over £700.

"(It has) frozen fuel duty which has kept petrol prices 13p per litre lower than they would otherwise have been."

But TUC general secretary Frances O'Grady said Britain was set for a "joyless" recovery.

She said: "Britain's great wage squeeze shows no sign of abating. Forty consecutive months of real wage falls means people have less to spend on the high street, and are why economic green shoots are not being felt across the country."

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Libor Scandal: Ex-Trader Faces Eight Charges

A former City trader has been charged in connection with the investigation by the Serious Fraud Office (SFO) into the manipulation of the Libor interbank lending rate.

Tom Hayes was formally charged with eight offences of conspiracy to defraud when he attended Bishopsgate Police station in the City on Tuesday morning.

The 33 year-old from Surrey, who used to work for UBS and Citigroup, was one of the three individuals arrested on December 11 last year by officers from the SFO and City of London Police.

He will appear before Westminster Magistrates' Court at a later date - expected on Thursday.

Tom Hayes used to work for Swiss bank UBS in London

The SFO said its investigation into the manipulation of Libor was continuing.

In a separate development amid the wider world probe into the alleged fixing of bank rates, authorities in Hong Kong confirmed that its investigation into possible benchmark rate manipulation had been extended to include HSBC and a number of other banks.

Hong Kong Monetary Authority (HKMA) announced in December that is was investigating UBS about possible misconduct relating to its submissions for the Hong Kong Interbank Offered Rate (Hibor).

Last week, the Monetary Authority of Singapore (MAS) claimed that traders from 20 banks, including HSBC, had tried to inappropriately influence benchmark rates in the Southeast Asia city-state.

"As home regulator of HSBC in Hong Kong, the HKMA has asked HSBC to promptly implement remedial measures and actions as required by the MAS," HKMA said.

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G8: Cameron In Tax Evasion Battle At Meeting

By Ed Conway, Economics Editor

Fears are growing that David Cameron's plans to use the G8 to battle tax evasion could end in disappointment, as it emerges that his most ambitious objectives are being opposed by other world leaders.

The Prime Minister wanted a new deal clamping down on those who illegally avoid tax to be the centrepiece of this year's summit, held in Lough Erne, Northern Ireland.

But while Downing Street insiders were hopeful of progress in today's crucial talks, they have encountered more opposition than expected.

The ongoing conflict in Syria is also threatening to overshadow the summit's scheduled discussions on trade, tax and transparency.

The UK came to the G8 summit with a double-barrelled plan. First, to establish and potentially publish new ledgers of so-called beneficial ownership, documenting those who profit from tax haven schemes.

Second, to create automatic information-sharing systems to ensure different countries can compare notes on how much tax certain individuals are paying.

While the UK expected to achieve further progress on this front at the G8, campaigners say the proposals risked being watered down, with the beneficial ownership registers kept private and with information-sharing not extended to developing countries.

The Prime Minister has had international tax evasion and avoidance at the top of his G8 agenda since he unveiled his programme at the World Economic Forum in Davos.

While the Lough Erne summit is focusing specifically on illegal evasion, the G20 summit in St Petersburg will examine avoidance - where people pay less tax than they ought to, while remaining within the law.

Chancellor George Osborne made an appearance at the summit this morning to explain the technical aspects of Britain's proposals, after which there was a full debate.

Although most other G8 members have expressed support for his plans, Russia, the US and Canada are thought to be comparatively lukewarm.

French president Francois Hollande has also undermined Mr Cameron by wondering aloud why the focus isn't on climate change.

The first day of the summit culminated in the official launch of the EU-US trade deal - the biggest bilateral set of trade negotiations in history.

The negotiations, which will take place over the course of the following years, are expected to yield hundreds of millions of dollars worth of extra economic growth to the countries involved.

Mr Cameron said they could create a £10bn-a-year windfall for the UK.

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