Chancellor George Osborne has announced a clampdown on venture capital trusts (VCTs) and enterprise investment schemes (EIS') purely set-up to access tax reliefs.

European indices opened in the red on Monday, reversing some of last week's gains which lifted markets to levels unseen since last summer.

F&C Asset Management has reported £7.2bn of net outflows for 2011, during a tough year for the group as activist investor Edward Bramson seeks to turnaround the firm's fortunes.

London's leading share index edged closer to the 6,000 barrier today, as financials put the FTSE 100 on track for its sixth straight session of gains.

Fidelity FundsNetwork has become the first of the fund supermarkets to confirm it will offer investment trusts ahead of RDR.

The Bank of England will keep interest rates at record lows for another three years, according to Capital Economics.

Alliance Trust has upped its dividend by 7% and posted a turnaround in performance in its annual results, with the trust leaping to top quartile in its sector.

European banks have borrowed €529bn from the European Central Bank (ECB) in the second tranche of its three-year long-term refinancing operation (LTRO), asking for more support than forecast.

Investment trusts have substantially outperformed unit trusts and OEICs over the past decade, according to research.

M&G Investments' Alex Odd has entered Bestinvest's infamous list of "dog funds", alongside offerings from Standard Life and SWIP, after his £1.2bn M&G Dividend fund underperformed its benchmark substanitally.