Friday newspaper round-up: Mandelson, social media, Lloyds

(Sharecast News) - Peter Mandelson is facing an inquiry by the EU's anti-fraud agency after the European Commission requested the body look into his activities during his time as trade commissioner in Brussels. The commission said it referred the peer, 72, to the European Anti-Fraud Office, known as Olaf, last week after the US Department of Justice released documents allegedly showing he shared sensitive government information with sex offender Jeffrey Epstein. - Guardian Ministers will take another step towards banning social media for under-16s next week as they launch a consultation on the policy, with government insiders increasingly certain Keir Starmer will back the idea. Liz Kendall, the technology secretary, will publish the terms of reference for the consultation, which is expected to explore options including an age limit and less hardline action such as curbs on infinite scrolling. - Guardian

The publisher of the Mirror and Express newspapers has suffered a plunge in online readership across its regional titles as it reels from Google's algorithm changes. Reach, which owns dozens of local news titles across the UK, saw sharp drops in both page views and visitor numbers last month. Page views of Surrey Live, one of its properties, tumbled almost 85pc to 4.3 million in January, down from 28.2 million at the same time last year, according to figures from Ipsos. - Telegraph

Britain's biggest bank is to stop opening accounts for customers at its branches and instead force them to go online. Lloyds Bank's staff will no longer open joint, premium or student accounts in branches or switch customers from another lender - a move that critics warned signalled "the death of branch banking". - Telegraph

Barclays and Jefferies, the American bank, are reportedly among lenders with multimillion pound exposures to a UK mortgage provider that has collapsed amid allegations of fraud. The FTSE 100 bank is said to have an exposure of £600 million to Market Financial Solutions, which entered administration after a High Court judge said "very serious" allegations of fraud needed to be investigated, prompting the latest source of alarm about the private credit industry. Jefferies has a reported exposure of £100 million. - The Times

Daniel Kretinsky, the Czech billionaire investor who clinched the audacious takeover of Royal Mail's owner last year, has been called to give evidence to MPs over "significant concerns" about its postal services performance. The business and trade select committee has asked for Kretinsky, the chairman of International Distribution Services (IDS), the parent company, and Alistair Cochrane, the Royal Mail chief executive, to attend amid increasing scrutiny from ministers and Ofcom, the regulator, of its failure to hit delivery targets. - The Times