BP Share News (BP.)

RSA Group, the embattled insurer, suffered a fresh blow last night when its credit rating was downgraded for the second time in a month by one of the main rating agencies, which branded management at the company as weak. Standard & Poor's cut the rating on the insurer, best known for its More Than brand, one notch from A to A-, arguing that the string of profit warnings and the resignation last week of its Chief Executive, Simon Lee, "indicates weaknesses in governance and management generally". - The TimesLawyers for BP attempted to mislead the court hearing the company's legal battle over compensation for the 2010 Deepwater Horizon disaster, lawyers representing claimants have alleged. In a filing to the US district court in New Orleans on Monday evening, the steering committee of plaintiffs' lawyers said BP's counsel had made "material omissions" that were "tantamount to [...] misleading the court". - Financial Times British companies plan to hire staff at the fastest pace since the start of the financial crisis over the next year, but this will not result in hefty pay rises. More than 50% of businesses expect their workforce to be larger in 12 months as the nation's economic recovery continues to take hold, according to a new survey by the CBI and Accenture, the management consultancy. - The TimesA Scottish life sciences company that rose from the ashes of collapsed Angel Biotechnology is preparing to return to the stock market and take over a Californian peer. Former Angel acting Chief Executive Stewart White launched Collbio in March and bought Angel's assets in Glasgow, including a plant previously owned by sausage skin maker Devro. - The Scotsman The Bank of England has approved the termination of guarantees provided by the Treasury to RBS when it received a £45.5bn bailout from taxpayers in 2008 and 2009. This was insurance whereby the Treasury agreed to pump £8bn into RBS if its capital cushion designed to protect the bank against financial shocks fell below 5%. The insurance contract was meant to last five years but has been terminated a year early, saving RBS and taxpayers £320m in fees. - The Daily Mail Virgin Money will be the latest new face to enter the current account market after it piloted a new account to 3,000 of its staff ahead of an expected launch next year. The banking arm of Sir Richard Branson's empire could unveil its new accounts as early as spring 2014, according to reports. This follows last week's announcement that Tesco Bank is employing 300 more staff in the run-up to its own current account launch in the first half of 2014. - The Daily MailBoeing intends to increase its dividend by 50% and ask investors to approve up to $10bn of share buybacks, the commercial jet maker said on Monday, calling the move a mark of confidence in its own future. The quarterly dividend would increase from 48.5 cents to 73 cents, Boeing said. The new $10bn buyback programme would allow repurchases to continue once the company has exhausted the remaining $800m of an outstanding buyback authorisation granted in 2007. - Financial TimesAB