PRESS DIGEST- British Business - Dec 14

The following are the top stories on the business pages of British newspapers. Reuters has not verified these stories and does not vouch for their accuracy.

The Times

Debenhams has watered down the targets its bosses need to hit to receive multimillion-pound paydays, saying the lower hurdles reflect "ongoing challenges in the UK retail sector". (http://thetim.es/1QfkoJI)

Royal Bank of Scotland faces an investigation by UK's regulator after dormant bank accounts were concealed from thousands of customers. The bank confirmed on Sunday that it had launched an internal inquiry after "misinforming" 4,500 customers who had asked for money locked in inactive accounts to be returned. (http://thetim.es/1Qfkyke)

The Guardian

Labour and Liberal Democrat peers are threatening to block George Osborne's plans to water down regulatory powers designed to hold top City bankers to account for banking scandals. (http://bit.ly/1QfkEID)

The Financial Reporting Council is facing renewed pressure to open an investigation into the auditors of HBOS in the runup to its near-collapse in 2008. (http://bit.ly/1QfkK33)

The Telegraph

Leading universities, including the Imperial College London has stopped buying books from Pearson over a ebook pricing row. Imperial College has gone as far as purging all Pearson materials from their courses. (http://bit.ly/1Qfms4u)

Spanish bank Sabadell does not want to buy any more banks for at least another year, shutting down speculation that it was considering buying Clydesdale (IPO-CLBP.L) and Yorkshire Bank, or RBS spin-off Williams and Glyn. (http://bit.ly/1QfmVUd)

Sky News

Lord Rose, the former boss of Marks & Spencer, is to become chairman of Time Out Markets, a subsidiary of the company which owns the international listings magazine. (http://bit.ly/1QfnehL)

Man Group, which sponsors English fiction's most prestigious prize is close to naming Lord Livingston, the former trade minister and BT Group chief executive, as its next chairman. (http://bit.ly/1lYRZKI)

The Independent

The powerful Treasury Select Committee of MPs has demanded that accountancy watchdogs "immediately" revisit their decision to take no action on KPMG's audit of failed bank HBOS. (http://ind.pn/1QfnEEY)

RBS's famously accident-prone computer systems have claimed thousands more victims as the taxpayer-controlled bank was found to have blocked customers trying to retrieve their own cash from old bank accounts. (http://ind.pn/1QfnL3w) (Compiled by Ankush Sharma in Bengaluru)