Tuesday paper round-up: Tullett Prebon, Vodafone, China

Hundreds of City traders are rethinking plans to leave the UK for tax purposes in the wake of last month's landmark court ruling against a British businessman based in the Seychelles, it emerged yesterday. The interdealer broker Tullett Prebon led the Square Mile's revolt over the Treasury's plans for a one-off bonus levy and a 50% rate of income tax announced in December. Terry Smith, chief executive, said that the broker would be offering its 950 UK staff the option of relocating to less onerous offshore tax jurisdications, such as Geneva and Zurich, the Times reports. The Independent reports that fears that London faces an exodus of bankers increased yesterday as it emerged that many will have to pay more income tax from next month than in any of the capital's rival financial centres around the world. Vodafone is set to announce up to 500 job cuts at its Newbury headquarters. The mobile phone company, which was founded in Newbury in 1982, has about 3,000 staff in the Berkshire market town after cutting staff over recent years to bring down costs. It shed 500 UK staff last year, mostly in Newbury, but also created new jobs in its retail and internet operations, the Times reports. An influential committee of MPs will today call for root-and-branch reform of the Treasury's dealings with UK Financial Investments, the organisation charged with overseeing the state's multi billion-pound stake in the banking sector. The Treasury Select Committee's report into the administration and expenditure of the Treasury also expresses "alarm" at low staff morale and calls for stronger links between National Savings and the Post Office, the Independent reports. China could end its near two-year currency peg on the dollar by as soon as next month, according to respected economist Professor Nouriel Roubini, in a prediction that could have major implications for global trade markets. Prof Roubini believes that the Beijing government will authorise a 2% increase against the dollar initially, followed by a further 1pc-2pc strengthening over the next 12 months, the Telegraph reports. Cash-strapped airports operator BAA has been forced to mortgage 39 houses near Stansted airport, many of which it is planning to demolish to make way for a planned second runway. The latest return for Stansted Airport, filed last week at Companies House, shows that BAA has taken out mortgages with Royal Bank of Scotland on properties including Rose Cottage in Bambers Green and 2 Chestnut Way, Takeley, the Telegraph reports. European defence giant EADS has dropped out of a nine-year, two-horse $40bn (£27bn) race to provide the US Air Force with a fleet of air tankers after accusing the American government of skewing the competition in rival Boeing's favour. EADS and US partner Northrop-Grumman last night took the dramatic decision not to make a bid for the 179 plane contract after studying the latest terms drawn up by the US Department of Defence, the Telegraph reports. Peter Kiernan, the top banker in mergers and acquisitions at Lazard, will not take up his post as director-general of the Takeover Panel until the regulator completes an investigation into allegedly misleading statements made by his client Kraft in its hostile bid for Cadbury, the Times reports. Marsh & McLennan, the global insurance broker and consultancy company, has put Kroll, its corporate investigations division, Krollup for sale for about $1.3bn (£864m) and attracted a stream of private equity interest in first-round bidding, the FT reports. Cable & Wireless's UK business is stepping up its efforts to achieve growth in emerging markets as it secures a stock market listing later this month. The business, called C&W Worldwide, will focus on opportunities in Asia, Jim Marsh, its chief executive, told the Financial Times in a rare interview. An extra £20bn of tax rises or spending cuts will be needed by 2013-14 to plug Britain's gaping fiscal hole, PricewaterhouseCoopers has estimated. The accountant said its projections were based on less optimistic UK growth forecasts over the medium term compared with the Treasury. PwC said that trend growth rate in the UK is likely to be 2.25% a year, and not the 2.75% forecast by the Treasury, the Telegraph reports. The European Commission will seek fundamental reform of the management of economic policy in the eurozone, including the co-ordination of fiscal policy, as it draws up details of a future European Monetary Fund. The proposed EMF, which was given further support yesterday by Angela Merkel, will go beyond the creation of a pot of money that would bail out errant members of the eurozone, such as Greece, a Commission spokesman said, the Times reports. Radical plans for a European version of the International Monetary Fund to bail out crisis-hit countries would need a new treaty and the agreement of all European Union member states, Angela Merkel, Germany's chancellor, has warned. Throwing her weight behind the proposals from Wolfgang Schäuble, her finance minister, Ms Merkel admitted the European Union had lacked the tools to deal with the Greek debt crisis, the FT adds.