HSBC Holdings Share News (HSBA)

More than 600 senior bankers and star dealmakers at HSBC will be paid six or seven-figure 'allowances' designed to bypass the European Commission's crackdown on excessive bonuses. In some cases, the new payments will be bigger than base pay, with Stuart Gulliver, the chief executive, due to receive an allowance of pounds 1.7m on top of his 1.25m pound base salary. - The TimesMore than a year after taking office with a vague promise to "rethink" Japan's post-Fukushima repudiation of nuclear power, the government of Shinzo Abe is poised to formally reverse course and declare a long-term commitment to atomic energy. The draft of a new Basic Energy Plan, made public on Tuesday, calls nuclear power an "important baseload electricity source" and effectively reverses a decision made by a previous government in 2012 to close all of Japan's atomic power plants over the next several decades. - Financial TimesChuck Hagel, the US defence secretary, announced steep cuts to the army and to several weapons programmes on Monday in order to meet lower budgets, but his proposed changes are likely to generate strong opposition from Congress in an election year. Outlining what he described as the "difficult choices" now facing the Pentagon, Mr Hagel also called for a new round of base closures and for limits to the benefits being offered to active and retired members of the military. - Financial TimesThe boss of Lloyd's of London insurer Hiscox has slammed plans to overhaul the way insurance is provided for flood-prone homes as "unfair and unworkable". The company said the Flood Re proposals, which have been drawn up by the Government and insurance industry, will end up discriminating against homeowners across the country if they are enforced next year, as expected. - The IndependentSSE has withdrawn planning applications for two wind farm projects on land in Scotland due to financial reasons. The firm had submitted planning applications to the Scottish government to build an 81-megawatt (MW) Dalnessie wind farm in Sutherland and for an extension to its 36MW Fairburn wind farm in Ross-shire. The firm said that continued investment in developing the projects was no longer financially viable. - Daily TelegraphNokia has risked the fury of soon-to-be owner Microsoft with a controversial deal to run its new phone on Google's software. Microsoft is only days away from taking over Nokia's handset division in a £4.6bn deal. Until now Nokia's smartphones have run on Windows technology, which is made by Microsoft. But in a bombshell announcement yesterday the Finnish group said its latest model, the Nokia X, would run on Android, the operating system made by Microsoft's arch rival Google. - Daily MailAB