News

Harlequin Property, the UK-based overseas property sales agent that is at the centre of a Serious Fraud Office (SFO) investigation, has lost its second auditor in under three years.

City Financial has acquired OPM Fund Management for an undisclosed amount, taking over its £75.2m fund range in the process.

Regulators have levied fines worth more than £1bn on UK companies and managers for fraudulent activity since 2007, with financial services firms alone charged £560m.

Jupiter chief executive Edward Bonham Carter has criticised EU proposals to cap fund manager bonuses, saying the moves could jeopardise industry stability.

Japanese shares have slumped in this morning's trading as equity markets struggle to consolidate gains seen in the first quarter of 2013.

The Financial Services Authority (FSA) ceased operation yesterday and was replaced by two separate new regulators.

Lord Adair Turner, chairman of the now-disbanded Financial Services Authority (FSA), has joined the economics thinktank founded by billionaire George Soros.

Institutional investors are likely to keep their cash in fixed interest this year and may even top up their holdings, despite talk of a shift into equities, said HSBC Global Asset Management's product specialist, fixed income, Brian Dunnett.

Baillie Gifford's European equity specialist Tom Coutts said the Italian election was not a game-changer for markets, but has thrown up opportunities for stockpickers as uncertainty hit share prices.

The worst of the eurozone debt crisis is over, according to Alliance Trust Investments' Fiona MacRae, as capital flows in the region start to reverse.