Tuesday newspaper round-up: Gambling, High Street spending, Wirecard

An anti-gambling charity has called on banks to improve card blocking systems introduced to help those whose gambling is out of control after it emerged 40% of current accounts offer no help in this area. Research on behalf of GambleAware found that just eight financial companies offered customers the chance to block future payments to gambling sites. – Guardian

High street spending on enjoyed a much-needed boost as lockdown eased on 4 July but hairdressers benefited more than pubs and restaurants, according to an early snapshot of consumer behaviour. As economists wait for hard data on the strength of consumer spending for this latest easing of lockdown restrictions, analysis of 3 million UK customers’ spending habits by the digital bank Revolut suggested that high-street spending on Saturday was double that of the previous weekend, despite only England relaxing lockdown restrictions, and ran at 86% of an average pre-Covid Saturday. – Guardian

Financial services firms suffered their sharpest ever downturn in the second quarter of the year as the pandemic piled pressure on jobs and profits. As many as 62pc of firms were hit by a slowdown, with just 10pc reporting an increase in volumes according to a survey by accountant PwC and the Confederation of British Industry. – Telegraph

Mastercard was warned about Wirecard’s links to an alleged laundering network in 2016, The Times can reveal. The payments group was handed details of Wirecard’s alleged links to a scheme that used bogus online stores to disguise the processing of high-risk payments, and Mastercard executives privately admitted to concerns about the scandal-hit company’s handling of high-risk transactions. – The Times

One of Germany’s biggest banks is considering closing nearly half its branches and shedding a quarter of its staff after its chairman and chief executive both quit in the face of rising shareholder pressure. Commerzbank is considering an aggressive cost-cutting programme at the instigation of Cerberus, its biggest corporate investor. Last week the New York-based private equity fund, which owns just over 5 per cent of the bank, attacked its “flawed and unambitious” strategy, prompting Martin Zielke, 57, its chief executive, and Stefan Schmittmann, 63, the chairman, to resign. – The Times