M&G

Insurer Prudential is set to name Paul Manduca as its next chairman after a five-month search, replacing Harvey McGrath, the Telegraph reports.

Tom Dobell, manager of the £7.8bn M&G Recovery fund, has warned BP it must up its game or risk being snapped up by another oil major.

M&G Investments, the country's largest asset manager, saw its net inflows rise 5% to nearly £1.8bn in Q1, as parent company Prudential also reported a jump in sales.

M&G became the UK's largest asset manager by AUM in the first quarter of the year, knocking rival Invesco Perpetual off the top spot, according to the latest Pridham report, published by Fundscape.

Prudential is proposing to merge three unit trusts into M&G funds run by Graham French, Alex Odd, and Matthew Vaight & Michael Godfrey in the latest review of its product range.

ING Investment Management is set to unveil a Euro Covered Bond fund aiming to offer investors low risk access to the European corporate bond market from issuers including banks.

QUANTITATIVE EASING

CONTRARIAN

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.

SWIP multi-manager head Mark Harries is moving back into equities, after halving his exposure following last August's sell-off.