Thursday newspaper round-up: OECD, Philip Green, FTSE pay

Britain’s biggest advertisers have ramped up their fight to introduce greater transparency into how their media budgets are spent by marketing services groups such as WPP, Publicis and Omnicom. The Incorporated Society of British Advertisers, a trade body whose members spend about £10bn a year on marketing communications, warned that media agencies have increasingly been generating profits through controversial business practices that are not visible to their clients. – Financial Times

University College London will sign the biggest loan in British university history on Thursday, borrowing £280m to fund an ambitious expansion and take advantage of a surge in international students. It also marks the biggest construction project at the university since it was established almost 200 years ago and is part of a wave of development projects taking place in campuses across Britain. – Financial Times

International investment into UK commercial property has stalled as widespread market uncertainty ahead of the Brexit vote takes hold, new research has warned, with more than a third of those surveyed blaming the referendum. Research by the Royal Institution of Chartered Surveyors (Rics) found that demand has fallen, particularly in central London, since the fact a European Union referendum would be called was confirmed following last year’s general election result, showing the threat of the vote has affected wider confidence in the UK market. – Telegraph

It is easy for people working at respectable institutions to get a little comfortable, to assume that the logo on their work will mean it gets a hearing despite serious weaknesses. They know that we all have a limited attention span when it comes to politics and get used to the idea that, by the time the assumptions underlying it all become apparent, the right headlines have already been published. The OECD report on the economic impacts of Brexit seems like a prime example. The assumptions about what will happen after a deal are a little crazy. – Telegraph

The government should launch an investigation into Sir Philip Green’s conduct as a company director if allegations emerge that he failed in his obligations while owning BHS, Sir Vince Cable, the former business secretary, has said. BHS shareholders led by Green, and the billionaire’s family, withdrew more than £580m in dividends, rental payments and interest on loans from the failed department store chain before he sold it for £1 in March 2015. It collapsed into administration this week in a move that crystallised a £571m pensions deficit and has put 11,000 jobs at risk across the UK. – Guardian

Boardroom executives of at least five major companies are braced for rows over pay and succession planning when they hold their annual general meetings, at a time of renewed shareholder focus on directors’ pay. More than 25 companies have their AGMs scheduled for Thursday, although before they begin the focus is on FTSE 100 companies – such as Shire Pharmaceuticals, building materials business CRH, Barclays and fund manager Schroders – and FTSE 250 engineer Weir. - Guardian