Barclays Share News (BARC)

Stock exchanges in Britain and the US have turned to the security services for help after discovering they were the victims of terrorist plots and attempted cyber attacks that aimed to spread panic in leading global financial markets.The London Stock Exchange has been working with the Cabinet Office after uncovering an attempted terrorist attack on its headquarters just behind St Paul's Cathedral last year. Separately, The Times understands from well-placed intelligence sources that the London exchange has been trying to identify the source of a cyber attack, the Times reports.Hundreds of thousands of middle earners will bear the brunt of the Government's tax reforms in April when they will be dragged into the higher-rate tax bracket, according to a think-tank. The threshold at which the tax rate jumps from 20% to 40% will drop by more than £1,000 on April 5, catching an extra 750,000 people in the higher-rate tax net, according to the Institute for Fiscal Studies (IFS), the Times reports.Retailers have warned of the "extremely serious" consequences of fewer jobs and store openings in Scotland if the Members of the Scottish Parliament (MSPs) this week vote to introduce a punitive tax increase for large retailers. The Scottish government in November unveiled the Large Retailer Levy, a rates supplement that will be added to all stores with a rateable value of more than £750,000 from 1 April, in an effort to raise additional funds, the Independent reports.Four of the UK's biggest banks are set to unveil profits of more than £24bn in what will be taken as the clearest sign to date that the banking sector is back on track after the global financial crisis. The four - HSBC, Barclays, Lloyds and Standard Chartered - are on course to announce combined profits of £24.2bn, up more than 10% on the £21.5bn they reported last year, the Telegraph reportsGermany wants to establish a far-reaching agreement on defence cooperation with Britain after the Government's decision to stop its participation in future European projects such as the Eurofighter Typhoon. The Germans are understood to want a strategic partnership similar to the one signed between Britain and France last year. Under the Anglo-French treaty, the two countries will co-operate on developing new equipment and will share military assets. the Times reports.BP's Russian billionaire partners in TNK-BP have called an extraordinary board meeting to discuss withholding the payment of last year's final dividend as they step up their attempts to frustrate the UK group's proposed alliance with state oil company Rosneft. The only item on the agenda at Monday's meeting of the partners, represented by Alfa-Access-Renova, is the cancellation of the fourth-quarter dividend from 2010, worth $1.8bn, which is due to be distributed in February, the FT reports.Dividend payments from listed UK companies will rise 11.5% this year after two years of falling pay-outs due to the financial crisis, recession and the Gulf of Mexico disaster, according to a study. But the rise to £63bn ($100bn), forecast by Capita Registrars, an arm of the outsourcing specialist, would mean that dividends were still lower than the cash paid out in 2007 and 2008, the FT reports.The Independent adds that the Gulf of Mexico oil spill caused a £2bn fall in the dividends paid out by British-listed companies in 2010. BP's decision to suspend payments was almost solely responsible for a 3.3% fall in dividends to £56.5bn compared with the £58.5bn total paid out in 2009. Were the oil giant still paying dividends, the combined payout would have been up 7.5%.One of the UK's leading recruitment agencies has reported stronger-than-expected growth in private-sector jobs - but many of those jobs are poorly paid and insecure, according to separate research. The Reed Job Index was founded last year to measure the strength of vacancies. It had an initial index level of 100, and rose by 9 points in January to 113 as employer demand rebounded from the winter trough caused by Christmas and the poor weather, the Independent reports.Linking the pay of chief executives to that of employees will neither improve company performance nor be fair for workers or shareholders, a report seen by The Times suggests. Moreover, there is no relationship between top pay and company performance, whether measured by total shareholder return, profit growth or return on captial employed. Consultancy Hay Group says executive pay is similar regardless of sector or industry.