The cost of its contribution to the Financial Services Compensation Scheme has cost Charles Stanley 40% of its pre-tax profit in the last half-year.

Schroders has reported a fall in pre-tax profits for the year to September and warned of a slowdown in its institutional business, although its intermediary arm has offered a boost.

MAM Funds' Simon Callow has been adding risk back into his £190m CF Midas Balanced Growth fund over the last quarter as policymakers work to steer the eurozone into recovery mode.

Aviva Investors' Andrew Lake is set to join Mirabaud Asset Management in the new year.

John Bellows, an investment strategy analyst at Legg Mason's fixed income subsidiary Western Asset Management, explains why fiscal policy is holding back corporate confidence in the US, and discusses the impact of the fiscal cliff on bond markets.

Jupiter's Tony Nutt has opened a new position in BT Group in his £37m split-cap Dividend & Growth trust.

Royal Bank of Scotland has posted a pre-tax loss of £1.2bn in the third quarter, as it sets aside a further £400m to cover PPI mis-selling claims.

US stock markets powered ahead after the opening bell as private sector jobs data released today painted a much brighter picture than analysts had expected.

The IMA's latest sales figures show investors are returning to risk assets, as net retail sales of equities outstripped fixed income funds for the first time in a year.

One of the key positive aspects of equity investment is that you can buy and sell stakes in small and larger companies, safe in the knowledge prospective and existing owners of a business are being treated equally.