News round up: Barclays, News Corp, ING, Standard Chartered, China, Single Currency.

City watchdogs are collaborating with the Serious Fraud Office (SFO) as part of an investigation into Barclays plc's (LON:BARC) bailout by the Middle East. This could lead to an investigation being launched by the fraud policing agency. The bank recently announced that its finance director Chris Lucas was one of four "current and former" employees under investigation by the Financial Services Authority (FSA).

The inquiry is focused on the disclosures of commission payments made by Barclays to secure the bail-out funds which were raised in two tranches in 2008. The FSA is understood to be liaising with a number of other regulators as part of the inquiry, including the SFO. However, the SFO has yet to decide whether it will launch a formal investigation of its own.

The news came as a rival bank, Standard Chartered, launched a fightback after being dubbed a "rogue institution" by the New York State Department of Financial Services. Neither the FSA nor the SFO was prepared to comment yesterday. Barclays said it was not in a position to comment. It is not believed to have been informed of the SFO's interest, the Independent writes.

News Corp

News Corp has written down its newspaper businesses by $2.8bn and taken a $224m charge to cover the costs of investigations into scandals at its UK titles, as it announced full-year revenues that fell short of forecasts. The scale of the writedown surprised investors, and shares fell 3.5 per cent in after-hours trading. Rupert Murdoch’s media group plans to spin off its publishing assets from entertainment brands such as Fox, Sky and Star next year, The Financial Times reports.

ING

The Dutch financials group ING is pressing ahead with a quick-fire sale of its $7 billion insurance businesses in Asia as it moves to repay state aid and with profits under pressure. ING is thought to be exploring several alternatives in its Asian disposal, including a whole sale to Canada’s Manulife or AIA, an Asian insurer run by former Prudential chief executive Mark Tucker.

It is also believed to be investigating a break-up, with sales to several different parties. The move comes just days after the group said that it was looking into options for its ING Direct divisions in Britain and Canada, The Times writes.  

Standard Chartered

Standard Chartered has sought advice about whether it can pursue a legal action against the US regulator that on Monday accused the British bank of being a rogue institution which had funded $250bn of Iranian sanctions breaches. The bank’s legal advisers believe “there is a case” for claiming reputational damage, according to two people close to the situation, although StanChart is conscious of the delicacy of taking an aggressive stance towards its regulators, reports The Financial Times.

China

China's annual consumer inflation fell to a 30-month low in July, suggesting that the central bank has scope to ease policy further after rate cuts in June and July to keep the economy on track to meet an official 2012 growth target of 7.5pc. The government is on track to ease policy to cushion the impact of global headwinds on the world's second-largest economy, but needs to tread cautiously to avoid reigniting property sector risks and fuelling renewed consumer price rises.

Annual consumer inflation eased to 1.8pc in July from 2.2pc in June, pulling back further from a three-year high last July of 6.5pc, official data released on Thursday showed. Economists polled by Reuters had forecast inflation to ease to 1.7pc in July, The Telegraph writes.

Single currency

One of the founding fathers of the single currency and a former chief economist at the European Central Bank has warned that some nations may not be able to remain inside the euro. Otmar Issing, in a book published this week, said: "Everything speaks in favour of saving the euro area. How many countries will be part of it remains to be seen." Issing added that funds could not be channelled indefinitely to nations that did not reform their economies.

"One has to consider whether one can keep giving money to a country that has not yet fulfilled an obligation, which is still non-transparent, more or less fudges things," he wrote, according to The Independent.