Skandia has handed a £640m life mandate currently run by Invesco Perpetual's Mark Barnett to Neil Woodford, in a move Hargreaves Lansdown analysts suggest may be the first of many.

Royal London has reported a 45% slump in pre-tax profit in H1, pointing to regulatory charges as a key contributor, while its wrap platform Ascentric saw new business slide 20%.

Tesco is coming under increasing pressure to slash its dividend in order to free-up cash to help it compete against low-cost rivals, with a leading shareholder speaking out over the weekend and analysts predicting a major cut to its payout.

BlackRock has scrapped the 1% initial charge for intermediaries investing in Alister Hibbert's European Dynamic fund after assets under management fell to a more manageable level.

Standard Life has called for platforms with super clean deals to house alternative share classes in order to aid re-registration.

Old Mutual Wealth's soon to be re-branded Skandia platform today reported profits had jumped 400% in the first half of 2014 to £10m, while assets in its recently-launched WealthSelect range hit £1bn.

Skipton Building Society is to sell its advice arm Torquil Clark to national wealth manager Bellpenny for an undisclosed sum.

Shareholders in the troubled Invesco Property Income trust have been told they are likely to lose their entire investment after it was suspended pending an effective firesale of its assets.

Barclays said today its underlying profits for the first half of the year had fallen 7% after a drop in investment bank revenue, while it also reported another huge bill to compensate PPI customers.

Legg Mason has announced it intends to buy Martin Currie in the last quarter of the year for an undisclosed sum.