Lloyds Share News (LLOY)

Plans to slice Northern Rock into good and bad assets have been delayed by two months, even though the European Commission is on the brink of approving the break-up and private sale of the lender.The Treasury had hoped to carve up the bank by the end of October in a move that would have enabled it to compile formal sale documents and to secure a buyer before the General Election next year. But The Times has learnt that the plans have encountered logistical difficulties, understood to include technology issues.A wild card is set to be thrown into the battle by Kraft to acquire UK confectionery group Cadbury with the expiry on Friday of an agreement by shareholder Nelson Peltz to refrain from publicly criticising the US food group.Mr Peltz's Trian fund management company - which holds stakes in Kraft and Cadbury - had struck a two-year "standstill" agreement with the US group in November 2007 not to criticise its "corporate strategy, business, corporate activities or management," the FT reports.Lloyds Banking Group's two leading property bankers are leaving the state-backed bank as it prepares for the pivotal unwinding of its £60bn UK commercial property loan book. The departures, described by the bank as for "personal reasons", come as Lloyd also attempts to finalise whether it will take part in the Government's Asset Protection Scheme for bad loans, the Telegraph reports. Sir Philip Green is planning the biggest overhaul of Bhs since he bought the department store chain from Storehouse nearly a decade ago. The retailing tycoon, who in July completed the integration of Bhs with his other main business, Arcadia ? the owner of the Topshop and Topman chains ? is likely to introduce food and beauty products into the stores but is also considering buying new fashion brands to augment the store's clothing ranges, the Times reports.The economy is at risk of registering only anaemic growth in the coming months, the Deputy Governor of the Bank of England warned last night as figures out today are expected to show that the recession has ended. Paul Tucker, Deputy Governor for Financial Stability, said that while there was only a remote chance of a "double dip" recession, with the economy starting to contract again after several quarters of growth, the outlook remained "highly uncertain," the Times reports.Anglo American has announced plans to cut more than 2,700 white-collar jobs and raise about $10bn (£6bn) by selling assets. The mining group said yesterday that a quarter of its managers would go over the next six months in a move that will save Anglo about $120m a year, the Times writes.In a landmark moment for US finance, the Federal Reserve unveiled draft rules for bankers' pay extending the reach of regulators deep into the compensation practices of leading financial firms. But the Fed did not support a standard benchmark for the proportion of bonuses that should be deferred, in line with a proposal adopted by many European nations - raising fears over an uneven playing field between US and European banks, the FT reports.Leading international banks are set to face a substantial "capital tax" to protect taxpayers against them becoming too big to fail, the Financial Services Authority said yesterday. Outlining reform proposals to prevent a repeat of the financial crisis, the FSA chairman Lord Turner also said it was time for countries to stop competing over how "light touch" their rules could be for banks and instead "compete to be the best," the Independent reports.The Telegraph adds that the Financial Services Authority will ban Britain's banks from paying large cash bonuses to staff this year, forcing them instead to channel the vast majority of profits into bolstering their financial strength. In a clear challenge to the industry, Lord Turner of Ecchinswell, chairman of the City regulator, said he had "a range of levers" at his disposal to block "excessive bonus payments". "We will be talking to banks about whether their bonus pools are appropriate and if they aren't we will have a full and frank discussion with them," he said.Nokia, the world's biggest mobile-phone maker, on Thursday launched a legal challenge against alleged intellectual property abuse by Apple, opening a new front in its battle against a US rival that is transforming the industry. A lawsuit filed in a US federal court in Delaware accused Apple of infringing 10 Nokia patents in all 30m of its flagship iPhones sold since the US company entered the mobile market in 2007, the FT writes.