Wednesday newspaper round-up: UK Finance boss, gambling ads, stock markets
The boss of the banking lobby group UK Finance has resigned just weeks before his alleged sexist remarks about the financier Amanda Staveley are due to be revealed in the high court. Stephen Jones, a senior Barclays executive during the financial crisis who became the first chief executive of UK Finance in 2017, said he had also apologised to Staveley and the body’s staff about the comments, which were made as the bank scrambled to save itself from nationalisation in 2008. – Guardian
The NHS England director of mental health has warned betting companies not to exploit the return of televised football with “reckless” advertising campaigns that could cause more problem gambling while health service resources are stretched responding to the Covid-19 pandemic. Claire Murdoch, who has overseen the establishment of 14 clinics across the country to treat people with addiction and mental ill health because of gambling, said the service will struggle to cope with “avoidable harm” caused by gambling marketing. – Guardian
A record share of investors fear the stock market is overvalued after a summer surge erased losses triggered by Covid-19 despite the economic damage the virus has caused. More than half of investment managers have predicted the rally that has taken Wall Street close to record highs will falter, according to Bank of America’s closely watched monthly survey. – Telegraph
More than half of British businesses will have to cut staff numbers when the government’s job retention scheme expires, a survey suggests. The government’s job retention scheme is paying the incomes of about a quarter of the workforce and has helped to keep a lid on rising unemployment since the lockdown was imposed in March. Economists are warning, however, that many of those people will lose their jobs when the scheme closes in the autumn. – The Times
Regulators are anticipating a wave of disputes between businesses and banks when lenders start to demand interest or repayment of the £38 billion of government-guaranteed loans that have been paid out in the past few weeks. The Financial Ombudsman Service and the embryonic Business Banking Resolution Service have been asked to build up capacity to ensure that they can handle complaints from a likely wave of business borrowers being pursued to repay the money. – The Times