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Shamed British bank bosses seek solace in science and cricket

By Steve Slater LONDON (Reuters) - Say sorry, give back some of the money and become an adviser. Playing cricket and keeping a low profile also seem to help. These appear to be the best routes to rehabilitation or at least a more peaceful life for bankers in Britain blamed and shamed for bringing their companies to their knees. Matt Ridley, disgraced in 2007 as the former chairman of collapsed bank Northern Rock, has returned to a successful career as a science writer.

Tesco's year-old revamp weaned on fresh food focus

By James Davey LONDON (Reuters) - After a decade pushing its non-food business, Tesco <TSCO.L>, Britain's biggest retailer is changing, and a conspicuous focus on fresh produce greets shoppers at its newly styled superstores. "Customers were saying they felt we didn't have the right products in our shop," said Kiran Sudan, store manager at the recently refurbished Kensington superstore in west London, whose catchment area is a multi-cultural mishmash of affluent dwellings and social housing.

Few financial workers fail "fit and proper" test

By Laura Noonan and Sinead Cruise LONDON (Reuters) - British financial regulators have blocked just 30 out of a possible 227,000 applications to the sector's most risk-sensitive jobs since the banking crisis erupted, figures seen by Reuters show.

FCA signals new onus on sellers in finance rules

By Huw Jones LONDON (Reuters) - The Financial Conduct Authority (FCA) announced sweeping changes in financial regulation on Wednesday, telling banks they can no longer blame customers when products go wrong and promising to study how consumers behave to make sure they can make the right decisions. The FCA is one of two new agencies launched this month to replace the Financial Services Authority and rewrite the rules for a financial industry brought low by the 2008 crisis and years of costly misbehaviour.

FRC considering probe of HBOS auditor KPMG

LONDON (Reuters) - The FRC said it was considering whether to probe how KPMG checked the books of HBOS, the UK bank that had to be rescued with taxpayer money in the financial crisis. "We don't currently have it under investigation but we are monitoring the situation quite closely with everything that is going on at the moment, and then we will take a decision whether or not to start an investigation," an FRC spokeswoman said.

Ex-boss of failed UK bank returns knighthood

The former boss of failed British bank HBOS will return his knighthood and forego 30 percent of his pension following last week's damning parliamentary report into its collapse during the financial crisis. James Crosby, who served as chief executive between 2001 and 2006, also resigned as a non-executive director of Compass Group, the world's biggest catering company. The influential Parliamentary Commission on Banking Standards attacked Crosby in last week's report -- called 'An Accident Waiting to Happen.'

Ex-HBOS chief Crosby asks to be stripped of knighthood

By Steve Slater and Matt Scuffham LONDON (Reuters) - James Crosby, former boss of failed British bank HBOS, offered on Tuesday to give up his knighthood and nearly a third of his pension after being denounced by lawmakers for the "colossal failure" that led to his bank's collapse.

Supervisory shake-up bumps up costs for banks

By Huw Jones LONDON (Reuters) - British banks could pay up to a quarter more to be supervised as two new watchdogs adopt more intrusive regulation and impose higher fines which will be paid into the coffers of cash-strapped government. The defunct Financial Services Authority (FSA), scrapped in March to correct supervisory failures uncovered by the financial crisis, used to keep fines to subsidise its own operating costs.

Greek prices lose 0.2% in March, first since 1968

Greek consumer prices fell in March for the first time since 1968, declining by 0.2 percent on an annualised basis owing in large part to lower costs for telecommunications, according to official data released on Tuesday. "It is the first time since May 1968 that the consumer price index is negative," Michail Glenis, head of the inflation department of the state statistics service, told AFP.

UK firms see more jobs but no economic growth - survey

LONDON (Reuters) - British businesses expect to increase hiring over the next six months but given falling confidence among manufacturers, they do not anticipate overall growth in the nation's economy, a survey showed on Monday. An optimism index from accountancy firm BDO, which measures business performance expectations two quarters ahead, rose to 92.2 in March from 90.6 in February.
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