Lloyds Share News (LLOY)

Bank of England policymakers have revealed that they do not intend to raise interest rates in the short-term amid a slowing economic recovery and increased risks from the Eurozone, the Guardian reported on Thursday. Minutes of the October meeting of the Bank's rate-setting Monetary Policy Committee (MPC) showed that seven members voted to leave rates unchanged at the historic low of 0.5% they fell to when the financial crisis reached its peak in March 2009."Unless pay growth shoots up in the next couple of months, a rate rise soon after the [general] election [in May 2015] now looks the most likely scenario," said Chris Williamson, chief economist at Markit.Lloyds Banking Group is set announce plans to cut 9,000 jobs over the next three years, the Financial Times reported.The cuts, which amount to about 10% of Lloyds' workforce, will be announced on 28 October and are part of group chief executive Antonio Horta-Osorio's strategy review to make the UK's biggest retail lender more digitally focused.Executives at JP Morgan Chase & Co were alerted of potential problems related to the bank's hiring practices in China more than a year before the program came under scrutiny by the US government, The Wall Street Journal reported.A bank official in Asia warned legal and compliance executives in New York in 2011 of anonymous accusations that the bank's recruitment of a son or daughter of a senior Chinese official helped it win an investment-banking assignment, as revealed by emails disclosed in the report. JP Morgan officials later discussed the accusations and dismissed them, but decided to go ahead with the changes to the region's hiring practices.Come 2020 NHS will require an additional £8bn a year, according to the head of the health service, Simon Stevens, said. That comes despite plans for savings on a scale never seen before and marks an unprecedented plea for extra funds. If above-inflation increases in spending are not approved then patients will face cuts, staff shortages or freezes on new drugs, The Times reports.Lloyds plans to cut its head count by 9,000 persons or 10% over the coming three years as part of the lender's strategy for greater automation to be outlined next week. The announcement will come alongside the lender's third quarter results which are due to be published on 28 October.Nevertheless, plans to expand certain areas such as consumer finance and the credit card business - as well as larger digital operations - will help to offset some of the pain of job cuts, according to The Times.Embattled grocer Tesco is under increasing pressure to appoint a new chairman quickly. According to insiders shareholders have already been sounded out regarding the potential appointment of Richard Cousins, the chief executive of Compass.Other candidates in the running include John Gildersleeve, an ex-director of Tesco who heads up British Land and Archie Norman, the chairman of ITV who revitalised Asda in the 1990s, writes The Times.