Lloyds Share News (LLOY)

Global miners have passed a milestone in their efforts to change the way iron ore benchmark prices are set by convincing major steelmakers to adopt prices more closely linked to the spot market.BHP Billiton said on Tuesday that a "significant number" of Asian steelmakers had agreed to move from the 40-year-old pricing system based on annual contracts toward shorter-term pricing. Nippon Steel has also provisionally agreed to buy iron ore from Vale on a quarterly basis at a price close to 90 per cent higher than the 2009-10 annual contract price, according to a person familiar with the matter, the FT reports.Britain's next nuclear power station will be built on Anglesey, North Wales, under a £7.5bn plan being drawn up by two of biggest energy providers in the UK, The Times has learnt. Horizon Nuclear Power, a joint venture owned by E.ON and RWE, is expected to make a formal announcement today on the lead site for its first new UK nuclear power station.The Daily Telegraph has learnt that in an embarrassing climbdown ministers have scrapped advanced proposals for a compulsory scheme that would have been funded partly by a £20,000 "death tax". The decision was made amid fears in Cabinet that arguments over funding would lose votes at a general election due within a few weeks.Demand for gold from China will double within the next decade, according to a report from the World Gold Council. China's demand for gold in areas such as jewellery lags behind other countries, while its central bank holds less gold than other states as a percentage of total reserves, the WGC said. The report also predicted that China's gold mines would not keep pace with demand and could even be exhausted within six years, the Telegraph reports.Ofcom has opened the door to scrap rules that force ITV, Channel 4 and Five to sell all their advertising airtime, potentially driving up profits. The move would be a welcome lift for broadcasters after a punishing recession and increased competition from digital rivals. The communications regulator yesterday launched its consultation into the TV Airtime Sales Rules, which were last reviewed in 2003, the Independent reports.Bank lending to business and home buyers remains critically weak, according to the latest data from the Bank of England, endangering the revival in the housing market and the wider economic recovery. Bank lending to "real economy" firms rose by just £100m in February - 0.3% - and mortgage approvals fell back again, the Independent reports.Rio Tinto faces a possible Serious Fraud Office investigation after four former executives from the UK-listed mining company were convicted of bribery in China. It is understood that the SFO has already started gathering intelligence about the activities of Rio, although a spokesman for the SFO stressed it had not yet launched a formal investigation, the Telegraph reports.Retail banks will be asked by the government to provide 'tens of millions of pounds' to help the Post Office enter the banking business and compete with them. Lord Mandelson, Business Secretary, wants the levy to support the creation of a national distribution network with credit unions in partnership with the Post Office to ensure savings, loans and current accounts can be accessed anywhere in the country, the Telegraph reports.BAE Systems has parted company with Sir Dick Evans, the defence group's former chairman and chief executive, only weeks after admitting to compliance failings that took place under his leadership. Sir Dick had been retained by BAE as an adviser on Saudi Arabia and was paid £246,954 last year. However, according to BAE's annual report, published yesterday, his contract was not renewed on 28 February, the Times reports.One of the City's biggest institutional investors has said that it has "serious reservations" about the way in which the £6.2m pay packet of Eric Daniels, chief executive of Lloyds Banking Group, has been structured. Keith Skeoch, chief executive of Standard Life Investments, revealed his concerns in a letter to Lord Myners, the City Minister, the Times reports.Meanwhile, Eric Daniels will stay in his job as chief executive of Lloyds Banking Group for at least another year in spite of the initiation by the bank's chairman of an "emergency succession plan", according to senior figures at the bank. People close to the board said on Monday that, contrary to suggestions that the chief executive was about to be ousted, Mr Daniels and chairman Sir Win Bischoff were joint architects of the plan to draw up a list of contingency names to replace him, the FT reports.Ireland will on Tuesday begin operating a new "bad bank" to house €81bn in bad property loans left over from the financial crisis and set out new capital requirements that are expected to see the further nationalisation of its banking sector. Irish bank shares fell sharply on Monday amid fears that the new financial requirements could prove crippling, the FT reports.Ofcom has threatened to introduce strict rules to bring internet companies into line after finding that customers were still not being told accurately which broadband speed they would receive when signing a contract. The telecommunications regulator has threatened to introduce mandatory rules to replace a voluntary code of conduct, signed by more than 100 internet providers last year, that has proved ineffective, the Times reports.