Funds

Sanjeev Shah is to step down as manager of Fidelity Special Situations at the end of 2013, while colleague Allan Liu is to step back from the group's UK-domiciled South East Asia fund.

Commercial property made simple?

Platform Novia is to launch its own fund management arm in the final quarter of the year, providing advisers with a range of risk-rated portfolios to offer to clients.

INVESTMENT TRUSTS

The board of the £1.3bn Murray International Trust has blamed "significant" underweights to North America and Japan for underperformance in the first half of 2013.

Hargreaves Lansdown is in talks with a number of fund groups to secure exclusive deals to sell their passive products at discounted prices.

COST-CUTS

The Witan investment trust has bolstered its exposure to Japanese equities as the country's aggressive fiscal stimulus continues to take hold.

Developed equities attracted the bulk of inflows into exchange traded funds (ETF) in the second quarter, according to the latest figures from iShares, as investors continue to shy away from emerging markets.

Skandia has appointed Standard Life Investments' (SLI's) head of regional client marketing Alistair Campbell as head of investment marketing.