Wealth management giants including Rathbones, Towry and Quilter are said to be looking at a £50m acquisition of Jupiter's private client business, and a sale now could enable the group to pay a special dividend to shareholders, analysts have said.

Investors looking at asset managers' shares should be buying into Jupiter, Schroders and Aberdeen this year, as major acquisitions and RDR continue to benefit the three businesses, according to JPM Cazenove analysts.

The Financial Conduct Authority (FCA) has warned investors of a new boiler room scam operating under the same name as authorised firm LBV Asset Management.

The Treasury has spent more than £2.6m administering the Equitable Life payments scheme (ELPS) in the three months to November, government figures have shown.

Mario Draghi, the head of the European Central Bank (ECB), has said the country is not facing a Japanese-style deflationary spiral despite recent data showing inflation is sliding.

Standard Life Investments has launched a short duration credit fund following the conversion of its existing Select Income fund.

Some of the UK's largest asset managers could face more onerous financial requirements after regulators unveiled proposals to subject fund giants to greater scrutiny.

Analysts at Canaccord Genuity have raised their price target for Aberdeen Asset Management by more than 10% following its deal to buy Scottish Widows Investment Partnership (SWIP).

Invesco Perpetual's Paul Read is maintaining high liquidity levels across all the group's bond funds at the start of this year as "difficult" markets persist.

The US dollar is closing in on a five-year high versus the yen, with gold heading towards a one-year low, ahead of the release of minutes from the Federal Reserve's historic December meeting.