Thursday newspaper round-up: Walker Review, Lloyds/HBOS, Vodafone

Big banks will have to disclose how many of their UK employees are paid more than £1m under recommendations to be published today by City banker Sir David Walker, the FT writes.

Sir David will say that half the bonuses paid to employees should be deferred for three to five years. He will also propose that non-executive directors be given more responsibility for pay and risk, and ask institutional shareholders to engage more with the companies in which they invest. On pay, Sir David goes well beyond disclosure requirements in other countries. Remuneration for those earning more than £1m would be disclosed in £5m pay bands.
UK banks will be more than £2bn richer as a result of the Supreme Court's surprise ruling that their overdraft charges are not unfair. Lenders were facing a raft of claims if the original ruling had been upheld. More than 1.1m bank customers had hoped to recover an estimated £1.7bn before all payouts were frozen two years ago when court case was launched. Some £560m had already been returned to customers and further claims were expected, the Telegraph reports.

A fresh dispute erupted yesterday over the secret £62bn loans to Royal Bank of Scotland and HBOS as MPs across the House condemned regulators for failing investors. Lloyds shareholders said that the revelations strengthened their actions against directors of the bank. MPs expressed anger that Lloyds' investors had been asked to vote in favour of buying HBOS on November 19 last year while being denied information about the additional bailout money, the Times reports.

Anthony Bolton, the former star stock picker at Fidelity International, is relocating from London to Hong Kong to set up a China-focused fund. The surprise move by Fidelity's president of investments, scheduled to take place early next year, will mark a return to portfolio management for Mr Bolton, one of the most successful investors of his generation. He stepped down from managing money two years ago after a 28-year stint running Fidelity's Special Situations Fund, a UK-registered mutual fund, the FT reports.

Vodafone is planning to close its £755m final salary pension scheme to roughly 4,000 of its employees, becoming one of the largest employers to propose such a move in an attempt to control the costs and risks of retirement benefits.The company sent a letter to staff this week informing them of a consultation exercise, as required by law, ahead of a planned closure of the defined benefit scheme in April, the FT reports.

Dubai, the credit-crunched Gulf playground, has shattered hopes of imminent financial recovery by asking for a six-month "standstill" on major parts of its debt. Dubai World, one of the emirate's main state holding companies, said it was asking for a delay on maturities until at least May 30. It has $60bn (£35.9bn) in declared liabilities and one of its subsidiaries, the "palm island" developer Nakheel, is due a $3.52bn Islamic bond repayment, plus charges, on December 14, the Telegraph reports.

The Bundesbank has told German banks to take advantage of renewed confidence while they can to prepare for likely losses of EUR90bn (£81bn) over the next year, warning that the delayed shock waves of the economic crisis still pose a major threat to global recovery and bank finance. While the credit system has partly stabilised, the underlying problems "are still far from being overcome" and money markets are not yet functioning properly, the bank added, reports the Telegraph.

Johnston Press, the regional newspaper group, is to begin charging for the online content of some of its local titles, in the latest sign that the industry has shifted heavily in favour of making the internet pay.
It emerged yesterday that Johnston Press is introducing "paywalls" on some of the group's websites from Monday; it will be the first UK regional publisher to experiment with the scheme. Online readers of six titles including the Northumberland Gazette and the Worksop Guardian will pay £5 for a three-month subscription, the Independent reports.

Nelson Peltz, the billionaire activist investor, has reduced his stake in Cadbury from 3.03%to 2.68%, citing portfolio "adjustments". Peltz's Trian Fund Management said that it had sold about 3.5m Cadbury shares on Tuesday for between 805p and 812.5p, close to this week's 814p record. Mr Peltz, who built his stake in Cadbury Schweppes in 2007 and pressured the confectioner to spin off its drinks unit, also owns shares in Kraft, the Times reports.

General Motors, the US carmaker, intends to step up production at its Vauxhall plant in Ellesmere Port, Cheshire, from two to three shifts a day and to expand output from 140,000 cars a year to 190,000, according to a person familiar with the matter. The rise in production is based on GM's expectations for its new Astra model and is likely to be phased in "over some time". The move suggests that the 1,500 Vauxhall jobs in Cheshire are safe, the Times reports.

Lachlan Murdoch, eldest son of media baron Rupert Murdoch, has joined forces with Daily Mail and General Trust (DMGT) after agreeing to buy a half-share in the UK group's Australian radio operations. No price details were disclosed, however Mr Murdoch is understood to have paid close to A$120m (US4111m) for his 50 per cent stake, valuing the Australian business at A$240m, the FT reports.