Norwich Union to close three retail funds to focus on its key strengths

Norwich Union is to close its Japan, Oriental Growth and Cash Deposit funds with combined external assets of £9.2m. The group is looking to focus on what it claims are its key strengths: UK equities, fixed income and property. Although the three retail funds look bigger because they have some internal life fund assets, in terms of external money, there is only £2.7m in Japan, £4.4m in Oriental Growth and £2.1m in the Cash Deposit trust. James Bowers, head of proposition development at Morley Fund Managers, said: 'The small size of these funds makes them less viable than they once were...