US Treasury Secretary Jacob Lew warned Monday that the US is on course to hit its so-called debt ceiling, the limit to which it can legally borrow, by the end of the month. He called on Congress to raise it immediately to prevent the issue from harming the economic recovery, adding that the government would start defaulting on its debt "very soon" if it failed to act. - Daily TelegraphHewlett-Packard's long-running investigation into claims of accounting irregularities by the former management team of Autonomy, the British software company it bought for more than £7.1bn, has concluded that the firm's main UK trading company made 80% less profits and 54% less revenues than originally stated. - The GuardianThe Chief Executive of Barclays has moved to avert a row over banking rewards by revealing that he is waiving one of his bonuses for the second year running. Antony Jenkins, who was in line for a payout of up to £2.7m, said that it would not be right to take it in light of the large amounts Barclays paid during the year for past conduct failures. - The TimesForeign shareholders are attempting to cash in on their controlling interest in Lenta, with a London listing forecast to value Russia's second biggest hypermarket group at up to £3.5bn. Investors, led by TPG, the US private equity group with just under 50% of the equity, are hoping to raise around $1bn (£625m) from selling part of their shareholding. Others in line to benefit are the European Bank for Reconstruction and Development (21.5%) and Moscow-based VTB Capital (11.7%). - Daily TelegraphThe public could be offered the chance to buy shares in Lloyds Banking Group as early as next month after the taxpayer-backed lender said it was in the advanced stages of preparing a prospectus for a retail offer. In a surprise update ahead of the release of its full-year results next week, Lloyds said preparatory work on "certain documents required for a possible future sale of shares" was well under way, leading to speculation a retail offer could come in March or April. - Daily TelegraphGermany ruled out a second haircut for the creditors of Greece yesterday as its Finance Minister said that a third bailout of the stricken Southern European economy would be limited to no more than €20bn. Greece could still have "residual financing needs" this summer even after taking all the austerity measures it has so far promised, Wolfgang Schäuble said on [Monday]. - The TimesAB
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