Sunday newspaper round-up: RBS, Co-op bank, easyJet

Foreign-owned bank branches - as opposed to subsidiaries - in Britain made the country's financial crisis worse, as they moved to shrink their loan books by almost half at the height of the credit crunch, according to Bank of England research, The FT Weekend reports. The other factors which explain the implosion seen in bank credit were the higher proportion of lending to businesses, a greater reliance on the more fickle forms of funding and to an extent the role played by Icelandic banks´ branches. As an aside, several Chinese banks recently complained that they were prevented from opening UK branches. Low-cost carrier easyJet may, as early as this week, announce the airline's first major order in more than a decade, with a price in excess of 6bn pounds. The transaction may involve about 100 of EADS's A320neo jets, with options on a further 120. Sources indicated that the airline may choose to make the announcement to coincide with the Paris Air Show at Le Bourget, Paris, according to The Sunday Telegraph.In an interview with The Sunday Telegraph, following his shock resignation from RBS, Stephen Hester says that politics came with the job. More poignantly, he argues against any attempt to split the lender into a 'good' bank and a 'bad' bank, saying that the disadvantages outweigh the advantages. He also explains how the lack of government support throughout the political row surrounding his bonus played an important part in his decision to leave. Britain´s financial sector is not yet whole. The Bank of England may - as soon as tomorrow - announce a £1bn rescue of the Co-operative Bank. The hole in the lender´s balance sheet stems largely from commercial property loans acquired through the ill-advised merger with the Britannia building society in 2009. The Co-op rescue coincides with publication of the final report by the Parliamentary Commission on Banking Standards, which is expected to recommend new powers to break up struggling banks. Later, on Wednesday, the Chancellor is expected to use his Mansion House speech to signal the sale of the government´s shares in Lloyds, writes The Sunday Times.Vodafone will have to put about €11bn on the table if it wants to have a chance at making away with Germany´s largest cable TV operator. To win control, Vodafone would have to hand over more than €8bn in cash and take on a debt pile of almost €3bn, sources told The Sunday Times.British Airways (BA) may be on the verge of ordering 10 stretched versions of Boeing 787-10 Dreamliner, the jet which made the front pages of newspapers during several months due to its batteries catching fire, at a unit cost of $250m each. BA, owned by International Airlines Group, has already ordered 24 Dreamliners, and plans to get a further 18, including around 10 of the 787-10s, The Sunday Times reports.Ahead of its upcoming petition, this week, for its shares to be allowed to resume trading Bumi has lined up a former BP executive - John Manzoni - to be its new Chairman. Manzoni spent 24 years at BP before becoming Chief Executive of Talisman Energy, the Canadian oil explorer. He is also a director at SAB Miller, the beer giant. The executive left Talisman in September over investor unhappiness with its underperforming share price, The Sunday Times reports.Lloyds, which is 39% owned by the taxpayer, could be privatised early next year, sources say, if Osborne gives the go-ahead. It is thought that the share sale would involve bringing onboard a small number of institutional investors to act as "cornerstone investors", while members of the public would be offered discounted shares. Such discounts can range from 10% to 30%, The Sunday Express explains.AB