Friday newspaper round-up: UK lenders, independent breweries, HP, MoD
By Michele Maatouk
Date: Friday 21 Feb 2025
(Sharecast News) - UK lenders paid "advance commissions" to car dealers that may have encouraged them to push costlier loans on to consumers, legal filings linked to the motor finance scandal reveal. Court documents seen by the Guardian show that lenders, including Lloyds Banking Group, have paid commission to individual dealerships in lump sums upfront, which campaigners say total millions of pounds. - Guardian
The number of independent breweries in Britain declined at its fastest rate in 2024, figures from the "indie beer" trade body suggest. The UK had 1,715 breweries at the end of 2024, 100 fewer than at the start of the year, according to the data released by Siba, which represents independent brewing companies. The overall fall the previous year was just eight. - Guardian
Printer and PC company HP has been deliberately adding a 15 minute wait time to its customer service line in an attempt to force people to fix their own problems, it has been claimed. The US consumer electronics giant has added the compulsory waiting time for customers who call its helplines to force them to pursue a "digital self-solve" instead. - Telegraph
The Ministry of Defence (MoD) is hiring a diversity tsar with a "spiritual edge" even as Sir Keir Starmer faces pressure to increase military spending amid looming threats posed by Russia. The role, advertised on the government website, states that the suitable candidate will be required to "constructively challenge and critique current practice" within diversity and inclusion and will be eligible for an annual salary of up to £38,790. - Telegraph
A former analyst at one of the City's biggest fund managers used confidential information on companies including Daimler, Jet2 and THG to make nearly £1 million with his sister and others, prosecutors told a London court on Thursday. Redinel Korfuzi, 37, is accused of using information he accessed through his job as a research analyst at Janus Henderson, which has more than £300 billion of assets under management, to trade using accounts held by his three co-defendants. - The Times
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