Barclays Share News (BARC)

Bob Diamond will stamp his authority on Barclays next month, when the incoming chief executive announces a radical overhaul of the way it pays its top bankers.According to people close to the plans, Mr Diamond aims to use innovative bonds - so-called contingent convertibles, or cocos - to pay a large portion of the bonuses for more than 1,000 bankers, those ranked at managing director level and above. Barclays is also planning to announce a broad-based review of its operations, pinpointing underperforming units and setting strict improvement targets, the FT reports.Europe's banks are facing an exodus of staff to US rivals as regulatory and political pressure drives a growing pay divide between financial institutions headquartered on either side of the Atlantic. Warnings over the divide follow a roller coaster weekend in which Sir John Vickers, the banking commission chief, said Britain's lenders could be broken up and talks between finance chiefs and the Treasury over bonuses and lending targets stalled, the Telegraph reports.Traders are bracing for a jump in the price of cocoa on Monday, after the internationally recognised president-elect of Ivory Coast imposed a one month export ban in an attempt to oust Laurent Gbagbo, who the international community said lost elections though he remains president. Cocoa is the main source of income for the government of Ivory Coast and any stoppage in exports would cut the funding Mr Gbagbo relies on to pay loyal civil servants and the military. Diplomats believe he needs about $150m a month, the FT reports.A surge in profits of as much as 25% at the British Gas group Centrica looks set to prompt a Competition Commission investigation into Britain's leading energy suppliers. Only two years after its last inquiry into the industry, Ofgem is in the middle of a new investigation into whether consumers facing historically high energy bills are being ripped off by the big six electricity and gas providers. The industry regulator's latest inquiry was sparked by figures indicating that suppliers' profit margins had increased by 38% year on year, the Times reports.Serco, the FTSE 100 outsourcing group, has walked away from SRA International after the US security, defence and health services company rejected a near-$2bn approach. Serco's board was unwilling to sweeten its indicative offer, people familiar with the matter said. Its decision not to pursue the approach further followed a strong run in the New York-listed company's shares, which have risen 27% since the turn of the year, the FT reports.A third of British households believe that their finances have deteriorated because of low income growth and rising inflation, a survey suggests. About 34% of 1,500 individuals polled said that they had suffered a worsening in their household budgets, compared with only 6% who noticed an improvement, according to the economics consultancy Markit. Respondents were particularly concerned about inflation, with 83% reporting an increase in the cost of living, while only 2% reported a decrease, the Times reports.Thousands of British companies are suffering from serious financial problems as the economy gears up for the full impact of the public spending cuts and tax rises, according to a report from the restructuring and administration firm Begbies Traynor. Almost 148,000 companies were dealing with "significant" or "critical" financial problems over the final three months of 2010, the Independent reports.Greencore is set to return to the fight for Northern Foods by adding cash to its offer for the company. The Irish food manufacturer is preparing to improve its offer after Northern Foods abandoned a planned merger between the two in order to back a higher offer from Ranjit Boparan, the Midlands-based entrepreneur. Mr Boparan, known as the "Chicken King" for his 2 Sisters poultry processing empire, won a recommendation from Northern Food's board late on Friday after tabling a 73p-a-share cash offer that values the business at £342m, the Times reports..The property entrepreneur Vincent Tchenguiz has taken a stake in an Israeli defence technology company as part of a much larger plan to create a homeland security business. Mr Tchenguiz's Consensus Business Group has invested more than £500,000 in the high-technology company eVigilo, which in conjunction with Ericsson has developed technology that allows warning messages to be sent to mobile phones in a specific area, the Times reports.The next generation of mobile phones disrupt cable television according to an official report, but the communications watchdog is confident the issue will be resolved before they go on sale. Ofcom has been aware that Long Term Evolution - or 4G - mobile phones caused interference to cable TV set-top boxes and called in Cobham Technical Services to investigate last year, the Independent reports.