Tuesday newspaper round-up: Brexit, RBS, drones, Codemasters

The growing risk of a bad Brexit deal for the City of London is causing severe tensions between the Bank of England and the Treasury, according to reports. Amid mounting fears that Brussels will reject plans put forward by the chancellor, Philip Hammond, for maintaining close ties with the EU for financial services, the Financial Times reported that Bank officials are at loggerheads with the Treasury over the search for a “Plan B” arrangement. – Guardian

Another tranche of the state’s share in Royal Bank of Scotland could be sold off as early as this week, with speculation mounting that the Treasury is to resume its privatisation imminently. About 10% of the bank could be sold to investors, which would raise about £3bn but still crystallise a substantial loss to taxpayers after the government was forced to bail out RBS during the financial crisis in 2008. While the Treasury’s long-term goal is to sell its 70.5% stake and return the bank to the private sector, the share price could yet defer a decision. – Guardian

Drones monitoring roads for car crashes and directing emergency services, speeding up surveys in construction by doing them from the air, or even managing inaccessible mines could deliver a massive boost to Britain’s economy, it has been claimed. PwC has estimated that by 2030 drones could boost Britain’s GDP by £42bn, and create cost savings of £16bn as they make work more efficient. – Telegraph

British chief executives were nearly twice as likely to leave their jobs last year as their international counterparts, underscoring the “unforgiving” challenge of running a London-listed company. The churn rate for FTSE 100 and FTSE 250 companies reached 16.5pc in 2017, nearly double the global average of 9.3pc, according to research by ­executive search business Heidrick & Struggles (H&S). – Telegraph

The accounting watchdog has been accused of “outrageous ineptness” in its five-year investigation into the accounts of Autonomy, which could become its slowest inquiry yet. The Financial Reporting Council is still investigating the British technology company’s accounts, audited by Deloitte, in the years leading up to its $11 billion acquisition by Hewlett-Packard in 2011. That deal ultimately led to an accounting scandal. – The Times

One of the most established names in the British video games industry will be valued at £280 million when it floats on the Alternative Investment Market this Friday. Codemasters, which develops the official Formula One games, will raise £185 million from the sale after pricing its shares at 200p. Only £15 million of the sale is for the Warwickshire-based business, while £159.9 million will go to Reliance Big Entertainment, its Indian owner, which is cutting its stake of more than 90 per cent to 30 per cent. Executive directors and senior management are also taking out £10 million at the float. – The Times