Monday newspaper round-up: UK banks, Sunak, Royal Dutch Shell
UK banks are preparing a code of conduct for pursuing businesses that default on taxpayer-backed coronavirus loans, amid industry estimates that up to eight out of 10 borrowers could fail to repay in full. The Guardian understands that the industry lobby group UK Finance and the state-owned British Business Bank have kicked off talks with commercial lenders in an effort to set industry-wide debt collection standards well ahead of repayments falling due. – Guardian
The chancellor, Rishi Sunak, is coming under growing pressure to unleash more financial support to stop Britain plunging into the worst jobs crisis for a generation, as figures showed high streets remained quiet on Saturday despite the easing of lockdown measures in some parts of the country. Although pubs, restaurants and hairdressers were allowed to open across England for the first time since March, industry data show that visits to town and city centres on Saturday were down by more than half compared with a year ago. In central London, footfall was 75% lower than in 2019. – Guardian
Banks have netted a $13.2bn (£11bn) windfall in deal fees in Europe so far this year as the plunge in takeovers is offset by companies and countries borrowing trillions of pounds to fight the coronavirus pandemic. The scramble to raise cash means bankers are enjoying higher investment banking fees than they did a year ago despite there being a dearth of lucrative merger deals. – Telegraph
Employers planning mass redundancies of furloughed workers face restrictions that may force them to pay back months of wages to the taxpayer. The Treasury has panicked some businesses by rewording the purpose of the Coronavirus Job Retention Scheme to say it is “integral” that its money is “used by the employer to continue the employment of employees”. – Telegraph
Royal Dutch Shell has hinted that it may move its headquarters from the Netherlands to the UK as it tries to simplify its complex capital structure. Ben van Beurden, the oil company’s chief executive, pointedly declined to rule out the plan in an interview at the weekend. – The Times