Aviva

Axa Ethical Distribution fund manager Richard Marwood has added to financial stocks this month and offloaded almost all traditional gilts on concerns of inflation.

At the start of 2009 markets were in freefall, there were concerns about financial and economic meltdown and the last place you wanted exposure to was smaller companies with their higher risk and greater exposure to the domestic economy.

Over the next few years we should see a sustained period of moderate global economic growth, albeit more subdued than previous economic recoveries.

Banks are denying savers tax benefits by paying less on fixed-rate cash Isas than on similar taxable bonds.

Swip's Gerry Ferguson has started to use cash reserves, purchasing a £260m property portfolio from Aviva Investors.

Absolute return funds aim to make a gain in every market condition but not all of these vehicles operate in the same way, making it vital for advisers to understand how they are constructed.

Sales of UK life and pensions have slumped across the board as consumers limit insurance and savings to focus dwindling disposable incomes on debt.

Aviva Investors has added a discretionary dilution levy fee to its Isa wrapper following a switch in the fund's administrators in September.

Is the growing number of absolute return funds a knee-jerk reaction to a fear of relative return products after market volatility? Will absolute return strategies prove their worth in good times as well as bad?

A healthy increase in enhanced annuity sales has been heralded as a sure sign of progress by the industry. Latest figures show Q2 sales were up 30% on last year and accounted for 17% of all annuities written