Monday newspaper round-up: Cyber attacks, Asda, Lloyds IT outages

(Sharecast News) - Shiploads of Minis, Aston Martins and Range Rovers will set sail for the US on Monday as the UK-US trade deal kicks in, but British farmers say they have been used as collateral to save the car industry. Auto shipments across the Atlantic were down more than half in May after Donald Trump's imposition of a 25% tariff on 3 April on top of an existing 2.5% levy. - Guardian More than one in four UK businesses have been the victim of a cyber-attack in the last year and many more risk "sleepwalking" into such disruption unless they take urgent action, according to a report. About 27% of companies said their building had suffered a cyber-attack in the last 12 months, according to a survey of facilities managers, service providers and consultancies undertaken by the Royal Institution of Chartered Surveyors (Rics) and shared with the Guardian. The figure is up from 16% a year ago. - Guardian

Asda is plotting to overtake Primark as Britain's biggest clothing retailer, as bosses forge ahead with an ambitious turnaround plan. Allan Leighton, the Asda chairman, is betting that George, the supermarket's clothing brand, can spearhead a broader revival for the company, with up to 100 stores being transformed to make the offering more prominent. - Telegraph

A French tycoon is plotting to cash in on the Labour-backed boom in data centres after snapping up planning rights for a landmark development in Cambridgeshire. Max-Hervé George, who runs Swiss-based investment fund SWI Group, has bought a site earmarked for development near Sutton-in-the-Isle with the intention of constructing one of the UK's biggest data centres. - Telegraph

Banks and pension companies will be allowed to prompt millions of their customers with "ready-made suggestions" as to how they manage their money in a major policy shift by regulators. The Financial Conduct Authority is unveiling proposals on Monday for a "targeted support" regime that could help the majority of people who are unable or unwilling to pay the costs for full personalised advice. - The Times

A leading executive at Lloyds Banking Group has told staff that recent IT outages have been caused by at least a decade of underinvestment and likened Britain's biggest domestic lender to a neglected house. In a leaked recording of a recent internal call with employees earlier this month, Ron van Kemenade, chief operating officer of the FTSE 100 bank, conceded that there had been "more outages" and that "all indicators point the wrong way". - The Times