Citigroup, the US bank, has promotred Robert Druskin, 59, the head of corporate banking, to chief operating officer, a new post. He is to cut costs in Citigroup and will report to its chief executive, Chuck Prince

£2.7bn endowment compensation

Insurers have paid £2.7 billion in compensation to 1.8 million customers who face shortfalls in their mortgage repayments because endowment products were inappropriate, a Financial Services Authority report states. In a new study of mortgage endowment complaints, the City watchdog said that, under its instigation, insurers reviewed more than 100,000 complaints that previously had been rejected or under review and found 75 per cent in consumers’ favour. It also found that, since 2004, the number of complaints taking more than eight weeks to resolve had fallen from 33,000 to 7,000. (Christine Seib)

Interest rate hope

One of the leading hawks at the Bank of England yesterday brought fresh hope that interest rates might not have to rise again soon when he made a broadly neutral speech on uncertainty in the financial system. Paul Tucker, the Bank’s executive director for markets, said that increased inward migration might have led to a more uncertain inflation outlook, making it harder to judge the level of inflationary pressures from the slack in the economy. (Gabriel Rozenberg)

SMG and UTV talks

SMG suspended its search for a chief executive yesterday and went into merger talks with its rival UTV, which would lead to the creation of a £396 million media company. The decision by the Scottish group is expected to pave the way for a tie-up, although SMG has conceded a nil-premium deal, which will give UTV the upper hand in the transaction. A combined group would probably most likely be led by John McCann, UTV’s chief executive. (Dan Sabbagh)

Bricks deal referred

The proposed merger of the Britain’s third and fourth-largest brick manufacturers has been referred to the Competition Commission for investigation. The Office of Fair Trading made the move after it emerged that the tie-up involving Baggeridge Brick and Wienerberger would leave the British bricks market with three principal clay brick suppliers accounting for 90 per cent of sales. Baggeridge shares fell 7 per cent after the referral. (PA)

Nursing home aim

Southern Cross Healthcare, Britain’s largest operator of nursing homes, is considering a £200 million acquisition of Life Style Care, a privately owned competitor. A spokesman for Southern Cross, which yesterday unveiled its first preliminary results since listing on the London Stock Exchange in July, said: “We are always interested in acquisitions that expand our portfolio and are of a quality commensurate with our existing homes.” (Robin Pagnamenta)

BSkyB departure

Dawn Airey, BSkyB’s managing director of television channels, is to leave the post when her three-year contract expires next spring. Ms Airey, a former chief executive of Channel 5, now Five, is to become chief executive of Iostar, a start-up broadcaster founded by Mark Greenside, the former Hallmark Television executive. She was once thought of as a future chief executive of BSkyB, which is 39.1 per cent owned by News Corporation, parent company of The Times. (PA)

Smith & Nephew bids for Biomet

Smith & Nephew will submit a £5 billion-plus cash and debt offer for Biomet today as part of a strategy to shift its focus on to its booming orthopaedics business and away from lower-growth areas. If the bid is successful, analysts expect S&N to help to finance the deal by exiting its woundcare management division, a move that could raise up to £1 billion for the UK medical technology group.

Morgan Stanley, which is handling the sale of Biomet, which makes artificial hips and joints, has set a deadline of today for final bids. Others thought to have considered bidding for Biomet include private equity groups and Medtronic, a US healthcare firm. (Robin Pagnamenta)

HP executive to go

Bob Wayman, the chief financial officer of Hewlett-Packard (HP) who stood in as chief executive in 2005, is to retire after 37 years with the American computer group. The 61-year-old, whom Patricia Dunn, the former chairman, sought to implicate in HP’s recent spying scandal, has been chief financial officer for 23 years. He was not found by HP to have been involved in the spying scandal. His successor will be Cathie Lesjak, 47, the current treasurer of HP.

Renewables target

The European Commission is likely nearly to double its target for the adoption of renewable energy in 2020 against its goal for 2010, a European Parliament member said. The Commission will announce probably in January a binding target to source 20 per cent of energy use from renewables by 2020, Eluned Morgan, rapporteur on energy security, sustainability and competitiveness, said. The present non-binding target for 2010 is 12 per cent. (Reuters).

Dubai sells ports

The American port facilities owned by Dubai Ports World were sold to a unit of the insurance group AIG yesterday, bringing to an end a diplomatic crisis over foreign ownership of assets deemed to be vital to US national security. AIG bought marine terminal concessions at ports in New York, New Jersey, Philadelphia, Baltimore, Miami, Tampa and New Orleans and a passenger terminal facility in New York City. (James Doran)

Travel chief to quit

Thomas Holtrop is set to quit as chief executive of Thomas Cook amid a boardroom rift, after just a year in the post. The tour operator’s board is thought to have lost faith in Mr Holtrop’s strategy. An announcement regarding his future is due this week. The former Deutsche Telekom executive had pushed for greater reliance on the internet, believing that the integrated travel group model had outlived its usefulness. (Neelam Verjee)