Thursday newspaper round-up: BNPL, Britishvolt, Reckitt, Rolls-Royce

(Sharecast News) - Almost a third of shoppers who use buy now, pay later credit say repayments on the loans have become "unmanageable", with the cost of living crisis pushing them into a debt spiral, new research has found. Consumers are spending more via the controversial form of credit, with shoppers who use BNPL now paying off an average of 4.8 purchases - almost double the 2.6 purchases in February, the research found. The average BNPL user's outstanding balance currently stands at £254.` - Guardian Cross-party MPs are forming a special group to scrutinise post-Brexit rules for City firms, amid concerns that the overhaul could result in a regulatory race to the bottom. The new subcommittee, which will be run by Treasury committee members and advised by a panel of experts, is meant to make up for the fact that new rules are no longer being dissected by politicians from the European parliament's economic and monetary affairs committee, after the UK's exit from the EU. - Guardian

A British electric car battery maker is targeting Tesla as a client by developing power cells designed to appeal to Elon Musk. Britishvolt, which is building a gigafactory in Blyth after raising £1.7bn, is working on lighter, cheaper batteries similar to the prototype 4680 cells that Mr Musk's company ordered earlier this year from Panasonic. A source said that if Britishvolt could provide performance batteries to Tesla it would be a "win for the UK" and its battery research. - Telegraph

A group of senior Democratic politicians has urged America's Department of Justice to closely scrutinise and even consider suing to block the potential sale of Reckitt Benckiser's infant formula business. The FTSE 100 consumer goods group "could shallow out the market" by offloading its baby formula business following widespread shortages in the United States, according to Elizabeth Warren, Bernie Sanders and Cory Booker. In a letter, they warned antitrust officials that a private equity takeover of the country's second-biggest manufacturer would pose a threat to competition and risk exacerbating existing issues for consumers. - The Times

Rolls-Royce has said that it can only deliver its first "mini" nuclear plant by its 2029 target date if the government commits this year to deploying the technology - years before it even gets safety approval. The small modular reactor (SMR) consortium led by the FTSE 100 group has made an audacious pitch to ministers to fast-track the technology in Britain despite its early stage of development. - The Times