PRESS DIGEST- British Business - Oct 29

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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

One Select, a fast-growing small energy supplier, is facing questions over its financial health after its Dutch sister company went bankrupt and customers reported it was making sudden demands for increased payments. http://bit.ly/2EQtfD8

A group representing dozens of pension funds has increased the pressure on Ryanair Holdings Plc to replace David Bonderman, its chairman of 22 years. http://bit.ly/2EQl5uB

The Guardian

The UK government is to explore the idea of zero-interest loans to help millions of people trapped in a cycle of problem debt caused by borrowing from high-cost providers such as payday lenders. http://bit.ly/2EQ60sZ

Philip Hammond will announce a 2 billion pound ($2.57 billion) real-terms increase in mental health funding on Monday as he unveils his first budget since Theresa May told the Conservative Party conference that voters needed to know austerity was over. http://bit.ly/2EOJj8l

The Telegraph

The new chief executive of BT Group Plc participated in a notorious "wheeze" between 2006 and 2011, that was used by sports stars, celebrities and financiers to illegally avoid paying 700 million pounds ($898.10 million) in tax but has since paid the tax he owed. http://bit.ly/2EQodXa

British start-up LoopMe, which helps brands to tailor mobile adverts to individual viewers using artificial intelligence, has raised 13 million pounds, in the latest show of growing investor interest in the space. http://bit.ly/2AxfdSJ

Sky News

An emergency budget would have to be drawn up if the UK leaves the EU without a deal, Chancellor Philip Hammond has said. He suggested that could mean the government changing its promise that the end of austerity is "in sight". http://bit.ly/2AxtS0m

The chief executive of the Financial Reporting Council, Stephen Haddrill, is preparing to step down after nearly a decade in the role and amid unprecedented scrutiny of its role supervising a string of Britain's biggest corporate collapses. http://bit.ly/2Awn82M

The Independent

Heathrow executives have raised 1.6 billion pounds from investors to help the airport "cope" and build financial resilience in the event of a no-deal Brexit next year. https://ind.pn/2AxZbIt

Some of the world's biggest companies including BP Plc , Rio Tinto and Volkswagen are facing calls from a group of investors to reconsider their ties to lobbying organisations whose climate change policies do not match up to the Paris Agreement targets. https://ind.pn/2Ax0eZ2

($1 = 0.7794 pounds) (Compiled by Bengaluru newsroom)