Sunday newspaper round-up: Brexit, HSBC, BT

(Sharecast News) - The Foreign Secretary Dominic Raab has claimed there is a "Brexit deal to be done" this week, but warned fishing rights remained an "outstanding major bone of contention" in trade talks. Mr Raab suggested it could be the "last week or so" of substantive negotiations as he urged Brussels to give ground on fishing rights by accepting Britain's right to control its own waters as a "point of principle." - Sunday Telegraph

HSBC could withdraw from high street banking in America as part of a strategic overhaul of the underperforming division. Britain's biggest bank has already closed 80 branches - taking the total down to about 150, relatively small for the US market - but said at the time of its third-quarter results last month that it was "pursuing options to accelerate the transformation of this business". Noel Quinn, who became chief executive in March, promised an update on the American business in February, but the Financial Times reported yesterday that plans for an exit from the US high street would be presented to the board in the coming weeks. - Sunday Times

BT's broadband rivals are mulling legal action to prevent Ofcom from hiking prices next year amid fears that the regulator's review could cost consumers £3.2bn. TalkTalk has approached Vodafone and Sky about joining forces on an appeal against proposals that could allow BT a substantial profit on a £12bn investment to roll out superfast broadband to 20 million homes. - Sunday Times

Britain is on course for one of the worst periods of income growth since records began, according to an analysis outlining the economic fallout from the Covid-19 pandemic. With the government already under pressure to improve the financial aid it is providing, it emerged that real household disposable income is set to rise by just £220 from 2019 to 2024, the expected period of the current parliament, a lift of just 1%. - Guardian

The coronavirus tier system could end in just nine weeks, Boris Johnson told his MPs on Saturday night in an attempt to head off a major rebellion by furious Conservative MPs. In a letter to Tory MPs, the Prime Minister said he would allow the House of Commons to vote on the new tiers in late January, saying the regulations "have a sunset of 3 February". - Sunday Telegraph

Marks & Spencer directors have met in recent days to discuss the possibility of buying menswear brand Austin Reed alongside its sister label Jaeger, The Mail on Sunday can reveal. The discussion is understood to have included buying wedding and occasionwear brand Jacques Vert. All three are part of the former Edinburgh Woollen Mill empire of retail mogul Philip Day. - Financial Mail on Sunday

A white knight rescue of Debenhams was last night hanging by a thread, with a final decision by suitor JD Sports expected within days. The potential deal - understood to include a raft of stores and the chain's online business - is widely seen as the last chance to save the high street stalwart from a painful breakup in the New Year. But City sources said there is growing nervousness this weekend over whether a deal can be agreed. - Financial Mail on Sunday

The Iranian parliament voted today to raise the level at which uranium is enriched to 20 per cent, well above the 4.5 per cent it is producing. The move followed two days of furious rhetoric from Tehran over the killing of Mohsen Fakhrizadeh, a scientist who was believed by Israeli intelligence services to have been an instrumental figure in Iran's two decade-old nuclear weapons plan. - Sunday Times