Britain's biggest telecoms company has put its audit contract on the market for the first time in 26 years, as politicians at home and in Brussels ramp up the pressure on companies to break cosy ties with the firms that check their books. Vodafone, the second-biggest public company in Britain, has asked a raft of leading accountancy firms to pitch for a mandate that has been held exclusively by Deloitte since the company came to the London stock market in 1988, The Times has learnt. - The TimesChina's economy slowed in the fourth quarter last year, highlighting the challenge facing Beijing as it attempts to implement painful reforms while maintaining the economic momentum needed to avoid defaults on its growing debt pile. Gross domestic product in the world's second-largest economy expanded 7.7% in the fourth quarter compared with the same period a year earlier - a slowing from 7.8% growth in the third quarter, according to figures released by the government on Monday. - Financial TimesThousands of small businesses face paying higher banking charges because Barclays is forcing them to change their accounts. Under the changes, all Barclays' 800,000 business customers will have to move into one of two new business accounts. About 30,000 will pay a new fee set at 0.5% of the total amount going out of their account each month. A smaller number will have the cost of their accounts rise by an uncapped amount. - The TimesPaul Coyle, Morrisons' group treasurer and head of tax, was arrested in December after an insider trading investigation by the Financial Conduct Authority - The TelegraphThe chief secretary to the Treasury has poured cold water on plans being hatched inside Royal Bank of Scotland to pay bumper bonuses to senior staff. Danny Alexander said he was sceptical about whether any application to double maximum payouts at the mostly state-owned bank could be justified. The Liberal Democrat MP was responding to claims by Labour that the government was preparing to allow a bonus scheme that would enable the bank to bypass an EU cap on pay awards due to take effect next year. - The GuardianBank of England governor Mark Carney will today be urged to consider wage growth when his monetary policy committee (MPC) sets interest rates. Raising interest rates too soon, before wages have begun to improve, could risk "choking off the fragile consumer-led recovery", according to the Ernst & Young Item Club. The accountancy firm's economic think-tank believes unemployment could fall below the MPC's 7% threshold two years earlier than expected. - The ScotsmanDeutsche Bank said its profits had been battered by a slowdown in the debt markets as it revealed a sharp fall in fixed income revenue and further costs for litigation and restructuring in the final quarter of 2013. The German lender announced a net loss of €965m for the last three months of the year as it rushed out its full-year numbers 10 days earlier than expected. News of a potential profit warning emerged last week. - Financial TimesBC
Barclays (BARC)
Vodafone (VOD)