Wednesday newspaper round-up: Car production, RBS, Bitcoin, Carillion,

UK car production went into reverse last year for the first time since the depths of financial crisis in 2009, as Brexit fears took hold and consumers turned their backs on diesel vehicles. A total of 1.67m cars rolled off UK production lines in 2017, down 3% compared with 2016 as demand for British-made cars dropped both at home and abroad, according to the Society of Motor Manufacturers and Traders (SMMT). – Guardian

The Financial Conduct Authority has agreed to publish the full confidential report into the mistreatment of small businesses by the Royal Bank of Scotland, in a significant U-turn by the City watchdog. The announcement came hours after the bank’s chief executive, Ross McEwan, and chair, Sir Howard Davies, told parliament’s Treasury select committee that they would not prevent the report’s release. The bankers accepted there had been a series of failings over how RBS had handled small business clients struggling in the wake of the 2008 financial crisis. – Guardian

Bitcoin’s price slumped on Tuesday night as Facebook announced it would ban adverts promoting cryptocurrencies and US authorities launched a probe into a large online exchange. Facebook announced a new policy prohibiting adverts that relate to cryptocurrencies or initial coin offerings (ICOs) from the 2bn-user social network, saying they are “frequently associated with misleading or deceptive promotional practices”. – Telegraph

The Governor of the Bank of England has urged the Government to abandon the use of the retail prices index (RPI) as a measure of inflation, especially in the issuance of government bonds. The intervention by Mark Carney could have profound implications for both savers and borrowers because RPI tends to run at 0.7 percentage points higher than the consumer prices index (CPI), which is increasingly considered to be a more reliable measure of inflation. Nevertheless, RPI is still widely used in government contracts. – Telegraph

The Financial Reporting Council has come under attack from MPs after admitting that it had first investigated Carillion two years ago, that it had been secretly monitoring the failed construction company since last summer without telling shareholders and creditors, and for claiming that it had no regulatory powers to raise the alarm before Carillion’s collapse this month. – The Times

After she steps on to the tarmac of a freezing Wuhan airport today, Theresa May will be followed by one of Britain’s biggest overseas trade delegations, intent on securing a share of the “golden fruits” that China’s ambassador to London says are up for grabs. That feast, however, may depend not on their best efforts but on the prime minister’s; specifically, her willingness to endorse President Xi’s pet foreign policy project. – The Times