Opening Quote: Metro Bank in talks to sell loan portfolio

Metro Bank is finally getting close to putting its loan misreporting debacle behind it. Almost six months to the day since the British challenger bank revealed it didn’t have enough capital backing some commercial loans because of an accounting error, Metro has confirmed it is in talks about selling one of its loan portfolios. No confirmation as to the timing of that — or the amount involved or potential purchaser — but the bank has interim results scheduled for Wednesday.

Lots has happened to Metro in the last six months. It raised £375m through a capital raise in May to help a return to lending growth after plans were knocked off course by its capital woes. False rumours on social media about the bank’s financial position, also in May, prompted a short, sharp shock of outflows, which have since stabilised. The sale of loans has been mooted for months, but would provide a neat reversal to a strategy which saw the bank purchase large books of mortgages from US private equity fund Cerberus.

If the loan sale goes ahead, one problem still remains, however: chairman Vernon Hill. While there have been changes linked to Mr Hill in the past six months too — the bank has said it will stop hiring the architectural firm owned by his wife, something that had been criticised by investors as a conflict of interest — pressure remains for a broader governance overhaul. Monday’s update will only whet investors’ appetite for Wednesday’s statement.

Briefly

Ofcom has kicked off the search for a successor to chief executive Sharon White (pictured), who is leaving to chair retailer John Lewis. The role at the top of the media and telecoms watchdog is being advertised by Russell Reynolds with a starting salary of £315,000 a year. Names in the frame include Andrea Coscelli, chief executive of the Competition and Markets Authority, Christopher Woolard, strategy and competition director at the Financial Conduct Authority, and Alex Chisholm, permanent secretary at the Department for Business, Energy and Industrial Strategy.

British Steel has one fewer bidder. China’s Jingye Group is no longer considering an acquisition of the UK’s second-largest steelmaker after previously submitting a bid for the whole business, according to two people familiar with the matter. British Steel collapsed into insolvency two months ago after its request for a £30m state bailout was rejected; trade unions and ministers have been particularly keen on a bid for the whole of British Steel rather than individual assets to safeguard jobs. Jingye had confirmed its interest as recently as last week, according to one person familiar with the bids.

Bill Winters’ pay saga rumbles on. Standard Chartered’s board is considering asking its chief executive to take a pay cut to close down the row over his pension. Mr Winters caused a firestorm last week when he attacked “immature” investors who voted against his pay package on the grounds that his annual pension allowance of £474,000 — or 40 per cent of his cash salary — was too high. Temasek — StanChart’s largest investor — is pushing for the bank to find a solution, according to people briefed on discussions. Mr Winters could be asked to accept a voluntary reduction in his pension allowance next year, as the chief executives of HSBC and Lloyds have done.

London-listed CRH is among the cement makers to come under pressure from investors over carbon emissions concerns. A group including Standard Life Aberdeen and BNP Paribas Asset Management are calling for the world’s largest construction material businesses — LafargeHolcim, HeidelbergCement and Saint-Gobain as well as CRH — to ramp up preparations for a low-carbon economy, including cutting carbon emissions to a “net zero” by 2050. Investors are feeling emboldened after recent success at Royal Dutch Shell, where shareholders were instrumental in pushing the oil major to set carbon emissions targets and link these to executive pay. That puts other industries firmly in campaigners’ sights.

Finally Atom bank, the fintech challenger, has raised £50m in a fundraising round backed by investors including Neil Woodford’s Patient Capital (other backers include BBVA and Toscafund). Atom says the new capital will be used to fund further growth and to continue its investment in tech.

Job moves

Associated British Foods has appointed former McKinsey partner and ex-Royal Mail executive Sue Whalley as “chief people and performance officer”. Ms Whalley spent almost 20 years at McKinsey before joining the postal group in 2006, where she was responsible for leading the programme that led to Royal Mail’s privatisation. She joins the company behind Primark and Kingsmill in October, reporting to chief executive George Weston.

We’re looking to feature more job moves. If you’re in senior management and moving jobs or you know someone who is, let us know about it at quote@ft.com

Markets speed-read

Global stocks are trading cautiously this morning as investors trim their expectations for an aggressive rate cut by the Federal Reserve, while crude oil prices are up on supply concerns in Libya and tensions in the Gulf. London’s FTSE 100 opened down 0.1 per cent, while the pan-European Stoxx 600 was flat. Brent crude was 1.4 per cent higher at $63.36.

Sign up here to Market Forces, Mike Mackenzie’s daily analysis of what’s moving global markets

Beyond the Square Mile

A flagship fund at Bridgewater, the $150bn hedge fund group founded by Ray Dalio, suffered one of its worst first-half performances in two decades this year after being wrong-footed by rebounding markets.

Shares rocketed by as much as 520 per cent on the first day of trading for Shanghai’s new science and technology-focused equities market, as investors scrambled to buy the first 25 companies to list on the so-called Star Market. Here’s more on how China’s so-called Nasdaq exchange plans to lure business from New York and Hong Kong.

BMW has teamed up with Chinese technology giant Tencent in a bid to accelerate its development of self-driving cars. The companies will build a processing and storage centre to handle data from test trials in China and BMW’s computer simulations.

Closing quote — essential comment before you go

Brigid Schulte
Make work-life balance a key performance metric and here are three strategies to change workplace culture.

Small Talk
It is taking decades to turn one atom-thick sheets of carbon — or graphene — to good commercial use. Prices must fall if usage and production is to take off.

Thanks for reading. Feel free to forward this email to friends and colleagues, who can sign-up here.