PRESS DIGEST-British Business - January 19

Jan 19 (Reuters) - The following are the top stories on the business pages of British newspapers. Reuters has not verified these stories and does not vouch for their accuracy.

The Times

- Britain's Financial Reporting Council is expected to maintain its practice of routinely "naming and shaming" companies under investigation, despite mounting pressure from the industry to scale back the policy.

- South East Water is paying utility interest at a rate of 3,000 pound an hour on shareholder loans, as the company’s borrowings have climbed sharply over the past two years while supply interruptions persist across parts of Kent and Sussex.

The Guardian

- Liberty Steel's Dalzell plant has been unable to start production of three Royal Navy warships as a cash shortage has left the Scottish mill without funds to buy raw materials.

- Britain's Labour MPs are pressing Chancellor Rachel Reeves to expand credit unions through changes to the financial inclusion bill, saying the move would give low-income households wider access to affordable credit.

The Telegraph

- Britain's National Wealth Fund is close to investing tens of millions of pounds in Oxa, an Oxford-based self-driving car start-up, as Chancellor Rachel Reeves moves to accelerate deployment of autonomous vehicle technology.

Sky News

- TDR Capital, which owns a controlling stake in Asda, is closing in on a 275 million-pound ($368 million) deal to buy Escode, a division of cybersecurity company NCC Group NCCG.L.

- UK's Department for Business and Trade is to announce the abolition of the Competition and Markets Authority's panels system, under which independent experts convene to assess whether corporate deals raise serious anti-trust concerns.

($1 = 0.7472 pounds)