Handover turns ugly as car industry bailout row flares (Independent) An ideological battle has erupted between George Bush and Barack Obama, with the outgoing President baulking at proposals to prop up General Motors, once the world’s largest car maker, which could go bust by Christmas.
Heavyweight lends backing to Lloyds TSB deal [...]

Call for HBOS to be nationalised (BBC News) Leading Scottish financier Jim Spowart says nationalising HBOS would be preferable to a takeover by Lloyds TSB.

Top bankers in new attempt to block £6.5bn HBOS deal (Independent) Sir Peter Burt and Sir George Matthewson, two of Britain’s top bankers, want to stop the £6.5bn rescue takeover of HBOS by Lloyds TSB. Sir Peter, the former chief executive of Bank of Scotland, and Sir George, ex-chief of the Royal Bank [...]

Has your lender done the decent thing? (Times Online) The heroes.

Interest rate cut: Heroes and Villains (Times Online) Which banks have passed on the base rate cut and which haven’t?

Halifax name to be dropped as Lloyds pinpoints £1.5bn of merger cost savings (Times Online) Lloyds TSB said yesterday that a merged Lloyds-HBOS group will be called Lloyds Banking Group, dropping the historic Halifax, Bank of Scotland and TSB names from the corporate title.

Abbey introduces new first home saver account (Banking Business Review) Abbey, a subsidiary of Banco Santander, has announced that it is launching the first home saver special issue one account, which is aimed exclusively at helping first time buyers save up a deposit for their first home.
Rival HBOS bids likely within days amid anger [...]

Gulf petrodollars help UK go green (Guardian Unlimited) The fight against climate change will get an unexpected boost today from oil-rich Gulf states which will pledge to invest some of their petrodollar profits in British green energy projects. The surging oil price over the past year has left parts [...]

Brown ‘will look at every offer for HBOS’ (The Herald) Gordon Brown yesterday said the UK Government would look at “every offer” for HBOS but highlighted the £17bn of taxpayers’ money being put forward for what is his preferred option of the merger with Lloyds TSB.
Monday newspaper round-up: HBOS, Royal Bank of Scotland, BT [...]

Spowart’s last-ditch grab for HBOS ‘is not taken seriously’ (Independent) A last-ditch bid for HBOS which would derail the bank’s agreed tie-up with Lloyds TSB has been dismissed by sources close to the Treasury.
Charges galore over rival HBOS bid (Channel 4) A leading businessman involved in talks about a possible [...]