What it says in the papers

IRISH TIMES

- The Irish Times leads with new allegations made by Independent TD Mick Wallace, who has alleged that a former adviser to the National Asset Management Agency was "peddling" assets to foreign investors as early as 2010. The TD said he had received more than 100 e-mails and other documents about about the sale of the Northern Ireland portfolio known as Project Eagle.

- The paper quotes lawyers for Pat Hickey as saying that it is "unclear" how he will raise the €410,000 bail bond he is required to pay before leaving Brazil, after the Olympic Council of Ireland said he would not put up the moeny.

- In business, the Irish Times quotes the chief executive of the Ires Reit, David Ehrlich, as saying that the property investment company is fielding calls already about its first construction project - 68 apartments in Sandyford in south Dublin. The paper says this further highlights the tightness of the rental market.

- The paper says Bank of Ireland chief executive Richie Boucher has refused to rule out selling distressed loans to vulture funds, telling an Oireachtas committee yesterday that it was "inevitable" that more homes would be repossessed in the coming years.

FINANCIAL TIMES

- The Financial Times says Germany's finance minister Wolfgang Schauble has set out a tough line on EU divorce talks with Britain on issues from tax breaks to exit costs, dashing Downing Street's hopes that Berlin would soften Europe's stance on Brexit negotiations.

- The FT says Britain's biggest business lobby, the CBI, faces allegations of hypocrisy after failing to follow its own recommendations to improve ethnic diversity in British business. The Policy Exchange think-tank said the body did not have a single non-white director at a national or regional level.

- The paper says China's domestic stock markets look set to be denied entry into international benchmarks for the fourth year in a row unless the country's regulators remove "major obstacles" before next June. The head of equity research at benchmark provider MSCI has given a downbeat assessment of the prospects for China's A-shares to be included in its emerging markets index next year.

- The FT says US bank JPMorgan has agreed to pay $264m to settle a US probe into its practice of hiring well-connected Chinese "princelings" (such as children of government officials) to win business.

IRISH INDEPENDENT

- The Irish Independent leads with Bank of Ireland chief Richie Boucher's admission to an Oireachtas committee that it had kept variable mortgage rates deliberately high for thousands of mortgage customers because it would prefer them to take out fixed-rate loans.

- Fianna Fáil leader Micheál Martin has told the paper the Government's plan to abolish the Universal Social Charge over the next four budgets is "not in the land of reality".

- The Irish Independent reports on a warning from the Central Bank's director of credit institutions, Ed Sibley, that poor management of outsourcing is putting banks at risk. He branded some cases as "astonishing", citing bad management of the arrangements and lack of oversight.

- The paper reports that Eir faces the threat of several fines after ComReg accused it of breaking the rules in its behaviour with rivals. Eir was found to have breached five separate conditions on how it interacts with competitors dependent on access to its network.

IRISH EXAMINER

- The Irish Examiner says it has seen a report by an Oireachtas committee examining the rising costs of motor insurance, which criticises insurance companies for their "closed mentality" and unwillingness to share data.

- The paper says relations between the Independent Alliance and Fine Gael are deteriorating further after the alliance said publicly that it opposed new FG-led measures aimed at restricting the sale of alcohol in shops.

- The Examiner quotes the head of KBC Ireland, Wim Verbraeken, as saying that the road is probably narrowing for the prospects of further reductions in home loans.

- The paper quotes Ryanair marketing chief Kenny Jacobs as saying that Ireland can increase tourist numbers by 50 per cent to 12 million in the next five years, but only if the offering is dramatically improved. He says the main problem is that Ireland is "really, really expensive".