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Tuesday newspaper round-up: HBOS, 3i, Vodafone

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Date: Tuesday 25 Mar 2008

LONDON (ShareCast) - The City regulator will Wednesday admit it made mistakes in supervising Northern Rock, although it will stop short of proposing dramatic reforms, according to the FT.

But the long-awaited report from the main City watchdog is expected to reject calls for an investigation of the bank's directors and their conduct during the crisis that sparked the first bank run for 140 years, says the Guardian.

HBOS is preparing to hand the Financial Services Authority its own detailed account of last week’s unusual trading patterns in the bank’s shares to aid the regulator’s investigation into possible stock manipulation, says the FT.

The premiers of both the UK and France are to demand that banks disclose all their bad debts, which could amount to a staggering $600bn (£302bn), five times the sum already written off since November, in a bid to bolster confidence in the floundering financial markets, writes the Independent.

3i, the former powerhouse of Europe’s venture capital industry, is abandoning early-stage investing in start-up companies, its worst-performing activity since the technology bubble burst, to focus on buy-outs, growth capital and infrastructure, writes the FT.

The Confederation of British Industry has warned that Britain's economy faces a "bumpy ride" over the next two years, following the deterioration of the credit markets, rising commodity prices and a prospective rise in inflation, says the Independent.

Vodafone is preparing for an initial public offering of its Qatari subsidiary, with a sale of about 20 per cent of the shares expected before the end of the year, says the FT.

Slumping stock markets since the start of the year have added almost £40bn to corporate Britain's collective pensions deficit, according to the Telegraph.

Ford Motor is due to announce a long-awaited agreement to sell Jaguar and Land Rover to India’s Tata Motors on Wednesday. The sale is expected to have a price tag of about $2bn, according to the FT.

Doorstep lenders have moved into the space left by high street banks as tighter credit keeps millions out of mainstream finance, writes the Times.