Monday newspaper round-up: Pension industry, Goals Soccer, sterling deposits, Cobham

Low-income households in Britain are more vulnerable to recession than they were before the financial crisis, the Resolution Foundation has warned, amid the mounting risks of a Brexit downturn. According to the thinktank, a decade of weak wage growth has left the poorest UK households and middle-income families less prepared for another downturn. It also warned the gradual dismantling of the benefits system under the policy of austerity imposed over the past decade by Conservative-led governments has left people without the same degree of support. – Guardian

Parts of the pension industry are making a “fat living” from people’s savings and should come under tougher scrutiny, MPs have said. In a damning Commons report, the work and pensions committee called for the government to take urgent action against pension funds that fail to disclose how much they charge savers, saying it is “unconvinced” that the industry will act voluntarily on providing transparent information about the costs and charges of investments. – Guardian

A report from accountants for Goals Soccer Centres could result in its ­former boss and chief financial officer implicated in an accounting scandal that has engulfed the football pitch operator. The Mike Ashley-backed company admitted on Friday there had been historic accounting irregularities and “improper behaviour” involving “a number of individuals” since 2010. – Telegraph

One of the world’s top economists has backed Boris Johnson to turn on the spending taps in order to boost the economy after Brexit. Olivier Blanchard, the former chief economist of the International Monetary Fund, says the new Prime Minister is able to embark on a spending spree without breaking the public finances. – Telegraph

British companies switched a near record amount of sterling deposits into foreign currency in June as part of contingency plans ahead of a no deal Brexit as it emerged that the government has built up a warchest to protect the pound. Figures from the Bank of England show that non-financial businesses reduced their sterling deposits by the third largest amount on record that month. Separate figures revealed that the government has increased its net foreign currency reserves by 25 per cent over the past year. – The Times

The £4 billion takeover of Cobham by an American private equity firm faces further opposition after the family that founded the British aerospace and defence company called on the government to step in. Lady (Nadine) Cobham, whose late husband Sir Michael led the company, has written to Ben Wallace, the defence secretary, and Andrea Leadsom, the business secretary, to raise concerns that the takeover by Advent is not in the “national interest”. Her family holds a stake of about 1.5 per cent in the FTSE 250 company. – The Times