Fund providers are preparing for the RDR deadline at the end of the year by launching share classes without commission and platform fees.

The UK Consumer Prices Index (CPI) climbed in March as higher food and clothing prices pushed inflation up to 3.5%.

Stirling Mortimer, the offshore property fund caught up in a dispute over €9.8m of cash which went missing from one of its cell funds, has agreed an out of court settlement to end an upcoming legal battle.

India's main index suffered a sell-off this morning after an earthquake registering 8.7 on the richter scale struck off the coast of nearby Indonesia.

Economists have suggested scrapping bank holidays in the UK in order to boost the country's struggling economy by as much as £19bn a year.

The FSA's director of supervision at its conduct business unit, Clive Adamson, told an investor in the Arch cru funds that complaining to their IFA was the "best course of action" in order to get some form of redress, as the scandal broke in 2009.

MEGAFINE

Markets in Asia tumbled overnight, with China's domestic market selling off sharply, amid ongoing concerns over the recovery in the west.

Government body UK Financial Investments is in talks to sell £10bn worth of RBS shares to a consortium of investors led by Sheikh Mansour, the owner of Manchester City Football Club.

The UK government is in advanced talks to sell a significant stake in the Royal Bank of Scotland (RBS) to Abu Dhabi.