Thursday newspaper round-up: Prudential, banks, BP

Leading shareholders in the Prudential were considering last night whether to back Sir Richard Lapthorne, the controversial Cable & Wireless boss, as the insurer's next chairman. Sir Richard, who has held discussions with investors over the past three weeks, wants the job if he gets sufficient support, says the Times.The City watchdog is considering whether Britain can claim exemption from European laws that will introduce the toughest pay restrictions in the world. Lawyers at the FSA are exploring the possibility of claiming that the UK financial services sector is already adequately regulated by its own Code, writes the Telegraph. Europe's bank regulators have revealed a list of 91 banks facing stress tests but declined to offer any details on the weightings given to potential losses on sovereign debt, reducing the chance that the exercise will restore confidence in the region's battered banking system, reports the Telegraph.Tony Hayward intensified his efforts to shore up BP's finances yesterday in meetings with two of the world's largest sovereign wealth funds. As the clean-up operation in the Gulf of Mexico entered its 80th day, Mr Hayward used a one-day visit to the United Arab Emirates to hold talks with the Abu Dhabi Investment Authority, which has assets estimated at $627 billion (£413 billion), and Mubadala, another state-backed investment group thought to have $13 billion, according to the Times.The prospect of Google facing a European inquiry into alleged anti-competitive behaviour appeared to increase on Wednesday, with Brussels' leading competition official breaking his silence to suggest how seriously he took the issue, says the FT.Britain faces a jobless recovery in which young people's already bleak prospects will be exacerbated by cuts to employment schemes, the Organisation for Economic Co-Operation and Development warns, according to the Independent.Walt Disney has lost a long-running court case against the UK creator of Who Wants to Be a Millionaire?, with a jury in a Calfornia court awarding Celador Entertainment damages of $270m following a dispute over profits from the hit game show, reports the FT.The risk of a slowdown in the global economic recovery has risen sharply, but governments should continue planning to tighten fiscal policy, the International Monetary Fund has said, writes the FT.A full-fledged disintegration of the eurozone would trigger the worst economic crisis in modern history, devastate every country in Europe including Germany, and inflict a deflationary shock on the US. There would be no winners, warns the Dutch bank ING in a new report "Quantifying the Unthinkable", according to the Telegraph.