Chancellor George Osborne should resist pressure from banks to reverse planned reforms of the financial sector, consumer group Which? has said.
Mr Osborne is creating a new watchdog that Which? says should protect consumers from "rip-off" charges.
The Financial Services Bill will mean the replacement of the Financial Services Authority by two new bodies.
The British Bankers' Association denied lobbying Mr Osborne and said banks appreciated the need for the bill.
The Financial Services Bill is due before the House of Lords and a banking reform White Paper is due out.
Banks have claimed that the reforms may prompt big financial institutions to leave the UK.
Which? says the government must ensure consumers are sufficiently protected from a recurrence of the banking collapse that led to a costly public bailout.
Executive director Richard Lloyd said: "We have seen intense lobbying from the banks... including a crescendo of scaremongering over recent weeks on the risk of the end of 'free banking' and of big financial institutions leaving the country.
"The chancellor must resist buckling under this pressure."
'Ordinary people'He said without "strong action" to shake up the banking culture, consumers would continue to pay the price.
The group urged the government to keep "ordinary people" in mind when pushing through its reforms.
The Financial Services Bill will replace the structure - introduced by the previous Labour government - under which oversight is shared between the Bank of England, the Financial Services Authority (FSA) and the Treasury.
Instead, a new Financial Conduct Authority will be established to enforce the effective and fair functioning of markets.
The Financial Policy Committee will be established to look after the general well-being of the UK financial system.
And a new Prudential Regulation Authority will monitor the performance of banks and other companies that manage significant risks on their balance sheets.
The bill will also give the chancellor powers to veto decisions made by the Bank of England when dealing with bank bailouts.
Financial institutions have campaigned against plans to put savers first if a bank becomes insolvent.
'Absolutely right'
The government is also due to publish a White Paper on banking reform, introducing measures to prevent another banking collapse.
Angela Knight, the British Bankers' Association's chief, told the BBC that the banking sector was working with the government to make reforms, not block them.
"We entirely agree that there needs to be changes and we're working very strongly with government on these changes.
"Do customers need protection? Do they need to be put first? That is absolutely right as well.
"There are debates that need to be taken but actually they've got to be taken properly."
Mr Osborne is due to deliver his Mansion House speech on the economy on 14 June.
Israel Stocks: Elad Europe, Hot, Israel Chemicals, Partner - Bloomberg
Israel’s TA-25 index headed for the lowest close since November 2011, sliding 2.6 percent to 1,037.85 at 1:40 p.m. in Tel Aviv.
The following stocks rose or fell today. Symbols are in parentheses.
Elad Europe Ltd. (ELER) surged 31.7 percent, the most since June 2011, to 1.231 shekels. T.G.I. Real Estate Investments Ltd. offered to acquire the shares it doesn’t already own in the real-estate development and management company.
Hot Telecommunication System Ltd. (HOT) headed for the the highest close since May 14, gaining 1 percent to 35.12 shekels. The board of Israel’s second-largest fixed-line operator approved a plan to buy back as much as 184 million shekels ($47.1 million) of stock last week.
Israel Chemicals Ltd. (ICL) , the company that extracts minerals from the Dead Sea to make potash and other fertilizers products, retreated 4.2 percent, the most since Feb. 26, to 38.76 shekels. Corn futures fell to an 18-month low on June 1 as economic data from Europe, Asia and the U.S. indicated demand for commodities will ebb. Farmers use potash on their crops to help strengthen plant root systems and make them more resistant to drought.
Israel Opportunity Energy Resources LP (ISOPL) dropped 7.6 percent, the most since Jan. 15, to 0.244 shekel. The oil and gas exploration company said most of the 6.7 trillion cubic feet of natural gas that may be found in the Pelagic prospect remained undiscovered.
Mellanox Technologies Ltd. (MLNX) dropped 3.4 percent, the most since May 20, to 224.30 shekels, or the equivalent of $57.37. The New York-traded shares of the Israeli developer of technology used to transfer and store data quickly dropped 4.6 percent to close at $57.70 on June 1.
Partner Communications Co. (PTNR) advanced as much as 3.6 percent to 18.20 shekels before trading at 17.70 shekels. Suny Electronics Ltd. (SUNY) , a marketer of mobile phones, said it is in advanced talks with Hutchison Whampoa Ltd. for the sale of a controlling stake in Scailex Corp. (SCIX)(SCIX IT). Scailex holds a 44.5 percent stake in Partner, according to data compiled by Bloomberg. Trading in Suny and Scailex were suspended.
To contact the reporter on this story: Shoshanna Solomon in Tel Aviv at ssolomon22@bloomberg.net
To contact the editor responsible for this story: Claudia Maedler at cmaedler@bloomberg.net
Egypt Stocks Slump to Two-Month Low on Verdict, Global Economy - Businessweek
Egypt’s stocks tumbled to the lowest level in almost two months after the verdict in the trial of former President Hosni Mubarak sparked protests and on concern global economic growth is slowing.
Orascom Construction Industries (OCIC) declined to the lowest intraday level since April 22. Ezz Steel, the country’s biggest publicly traded manufacturer of the metal, lost 1.5 percent. The benchmark EGX30 Index (EGX30) dropped 1.9 percent to 4,599.13, the lowest intraday level since April 11, at 11:09 a.m. in Cairo.
A Cairo court handed life sentences to Mubarak and his interior minister Habib El-Adli for complicity in the deaths of demonstrators during last year’s apprising. It also acquitted six assistants of El-Adli of the charges related to the killings and Mubarak’s two sons of corruption charges. All decisions are subject to appeal. Thousands of demonstrators filled Cairo’s Tahrir Square within hours of the verdict to voice their discontent.
“Today’s market is definitely politically driven and the global scene is not helping make things better,” said Omar Darwish, equity sales trader at Cairo-based Commercial International Brokerage Co. “People are back in Tahrir demanding the fall of the regime as if nothing had happened over the past year and a half and this may result in the delay of the presidential election.”
EFG-Hermes Retreats
European stocks declined for the fourth week in five and U.S. shares tumbled, erasing the Dow Jones Industrial Average (INDU)’s 2012 gain. Oil dropped 3.8 percent in New York on June 1 after the Labor Department said American employers added the fewest workers in a year in May. The jobless rate in the euro region, which has been in the grips of a debt crisis for three years, reached a record high, of 11 percent in April and March.
Orascom Construction, the country’s biggest publicly traded builder, lost 1.3 percent to 254.5 pounds. Ezz Steel (ESRS) slipped to 6.55 Egyptian pounds, poised for the lowest close since April 11.
EFG-Hermes Holding SAE (HRHO) lost 0.6 percent after the biggest publicly traded Arab investment bank rejected a takeover bid from Planet IB Ltd. in favor of a joint-venture with Qatar’s QInvest LLC.
To contact the reporter on this story: Ahmed A Namatalla in Cairo at anamatalla@bloomberg.net
To contact the editor responsible for this story: Claudia Maedler at cmaedler@bloomberg.net
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