Beijing moved to shore up flagging Chinese growth on Wednesday as its central bank pumped an extra 800 billion yuan (£86.7bn) into the world’s second biggest economy. The People’s Bank of China’s decision to cut the level of reserves to be held by its commercial lenders – opening the door for extra credit growth – comes amid concerns the Chinese economy could weaken further still in 2020 after its worst year for nearly three decades. The export powerhouse is bearing the economic scars of hundreds of billions of dollars in import tariffs by US President Donald Trump over the course of a protracted 18-month trade war, although the two countries are poised to sign an initial “phase one” trade agreement.
Thousands of customers of Lloyds Bank, Halifax and Bank of Scotland were unable to use online banking services on New Year’s Day due to an IT outage. Problems with the online banking services of Lloyds Banking Group (LLOY) began around 3am, according to complaints collected by the website Downdetector. The banks directed customers to use telephone banking for any urgent transfers yesterday morning. A spokesman for Lloyds said the issue had been resolved by the afternoon: “Internet and mobile banking is now back to normal. We’re sorry that some of our customers had issues with it this morning.” The outage is not thought to have been due to a cyberattack.
Royal Bank of Scotland Group (RBS) has recruited a network of social media influencers to post photographs promoting its new digital banking app in a bid to gain customers. Sponsored Instagram posts from online celebrities including a model, an interior designer and a woman popular on viral video app TikTok, all promote NatWest owner RBS’s new digital banking app Bó. The Bó app, released in November, competes with challenger banking start-ups such as Monzo and Revolut and allows customers to manage their current account through an app. The social media campaign was jointly run between RBS and card provider Visa.
Questor: a good year for our investment trust tips – 26 risers and just one faller. Questor investment trust bargains: as with our stock selections, our trusts have made money for readers, with average gains of almost 10%
