Wednesday newspaper round-up: IMF, Global competitiveness, German banks

Urgent action is needed to reverse a slowdown in trade and stop low inflation from triggering a downward spiral of weak growth, job cuts and higher debt, the International Monetary Fund has warned. A global lurch towards protectionism and the sluggish recovery had driven a "remarkable" slowdown in trade since 2012, according to analysis by the Fund. - The Daily Telegraph

Britain’s sharp rise up the league table for global competitiveness to its highest place in a decade risks being reversed by the vote for Brexit, according to the World Economic Forum. The body that runs the annual Davos event said Britain had risen three places in the past year to rank seventh, but said the analysis for its Global Competitiveness report had used data collected before the 23 June referendum. - The Guardian

Struggling German banks pose a looming threat to the European Union, which will “hit a fence” as the bloc struggles with a series of crises over the coming years, the former chancellor Lord Lamont of Lerwick has warned. Lord Lamont said that the EU was at risk of buckling under the weight of distressed lenders, not only in peripheral countries such as Italy but also in its powerhouse economy. - The Times

Investors paid several million pounds to lend to the government yesterday after the Treasury issued public debt at a record negative interest rate. The Debt Management Office, which manages the nation’s borrowing, sold £400m of inflation-linked 36-year debt for £870m. The yield on the issue was -1.77%, the lowest in history, and means that investors will get only £855m back in 2052 after inflation. - The Times

Royal Bank of Scotland is to pay $1.1bn (£846m) to settle US lawsuits over claims it sold toxic mortgage securities to two American credit unions in the run-up to the financial crisis. But the bank still faces almost 20 claims over its sale of mortgage-backed securities in the US, the largest of which are those brought by the Federal Housing Finance Agency and the US Department of Justice (DoJ). - The Daily Telegraph

Hospitals have become dangerously full and discharge patients too soon as a direct result of “political maladministration” by successive governments, according to a committee of MPs. The failure to join health and social care services means that one in five patients are at risk of either getting stuck in hospital or being released before they are fit to go, according to a report by the Commons public administration and constitutional affairs select committee (PACAC). - The Guardian