UK dividends are set to rise by 11% to £75bn this year, after reaching record highs in 2011.
Invesco Perpetual is launching a Global Financial Capital fund, managed by co-heads of fixed income Paul Causer and Paul Read alongside CIO Nick Mustoe, to tap into long term structural reform of the financials sector.
Ratings agency Standard & Poor's has downgraded the EU bailout fund to AA+ from AAA.
China's economy grew at its slowest pace in more than two years in the final quarter of 2011, latest government figures show.
Kashya Hildebrand - the wife of Switzerland's former central bank chief - has made a TV apology to the Swiss people and her husband for the $504,000 (£324,067) currency transaction that led to his resignation.