Lipper

Ed Moisson has joined Barings to bolster the firm's research capabilities following his exit from Lipper earlier this month.

Ed Moisson, head of UK & cross-border research at Lipper, is leaving the firm to pursue a new opportunity in the industry.

Neil Woodford's £13.7bn High Income fund is at risk of being expelled from the IMA UK Equity Income sector at the end of 2013 if its historic yield does not improve.

Fund closures and mergers in the UK have soared to a record high in the past six months as groups cull smaller or underperforming funds amid pressure on margins.

Almost half the funds in the IMA Global Equity Income sector have cut dividend payouts over the past year, leading some wealth managers to caution income hunters when allocating to the increasingly popular space.

Last year over 100 unit trusts were either merged or liquidated as fund management houses sought to clean up their product ranges ahead of the Retail Distribution Review.

Annual costs have reduced returns of the average equity fund by 27.9% over a ten-year period, a Lipper report has revealed.

The number of exchange-traded funds (ETFs) in Europe will continue to grow, but there are currently 241 European ETFs on a ‘death list' for profitability reasons, according to Lipper.

The number of new funds being launched into the European market has dropped by half from the peak in 2008 as asset managers struggle through a tough business environment.

Over the past two decades the FTSE All Share has beaten the majority of funds in the IMA UK All Companies sector, adding weight to the view the funds industry is in dire need of consolidation ahead of RDR.