Thursday newspaper round-up: Low pay, Lloyds, Bombardier, BP

Britain’s low pay culture traps people in poorly paid jobs and prevents them from escaping into full-time work with better pay, according to a major study by the government-backed body that tracks social mobility. Only one in six workers on low pay managed in the last 10 years to push themselves up the pay ladder and stay there, while most remained stuck in a cycle of part-time and insecure jobs. – Guardian

The chancellor has asked UK enforcement agencies to look into whether British banking groups HSBC and Standard Chartered are linked to South Africa’s corruption inquiry into alleged ties between the wealthy Gupta family and President Jacob Zuma. According to letters seen by the Guardian, Philip Hammond has passed concerns raised by former Labour cabinet minister Peter Hain to the Serious Fraud Office(SFO), National Crime Agency (NCA) and the Financial Conduct Authority (FCA). – Guardian

Lloyds Banking Group “mugged” shareholders by withholding vital information about the “catastrophic” financial state of HBOS prior to its takeover in the teeth of the financial crisis, the High Court has heard. Richard Hill QC, acting for 6,000 shareholders suing Lloyds for £600m in losses they claim were incurred due to the HBOS deal, said in court: “We are saying shareholders were mugged in this acquisition and should never have been kept in the dark.” – Telegraph

Norway’s $1 trillion sovereign wealth fund has joined a growing number of critics to the proposals made by the UK financial watchdog that will ease rules for companies listing in London - a move widely seen as an attempt to lure oil giant Saudi Aramco to float in Britain. In July, the Financial Conduct Authority proposed launching a new category in its “premium” listings, exempting state-controlled companies from certain requirements. The changes to listing rules would cover relations between the company and its controlling shareholder, and whether smaller shareholders get to vote on independent directors. – The Telegraph

Ministers are to be urged to show solidarity with workers at the Bombardier aerospace factory in Northern Ireland and select the C-Series aircraft, part-built in Belfast, as the new jet for the Queen’s Flight. It is also understood that the slow-selling C-Series, which has been rescued by a deal with Airbus this week after being caught up in a transatlantic trade row with Boeing and the US government, could be close to nearly tripling orders thanks to a big contract with Qatar Airways. – The Times

There will be no billion-dollar bets on green energy by BP because it is too early to tell which technologies will triumph, Bob Dudley has said. The oil major’s chief executive said that it had learnt lessons from its dash into renewables and low-carbon technologies two decades ago under Lord Browne of Madingley, who led the company’s “Beyond Petroleum” rebrand. – The Times