Funds

Antony Bolton's £610m Fidelity China Special Situations trust returned 8.42% in the three months to 31 December, compared to the MSCI China return of 1.5%, according to latest figures.

The average investment trust discount is now close to the lowest it has been for over 30 years. Tim Cockerill, investment director at Rowan Dartington, asks if the trend is down to RDR.

Cofunds has made a number of appointments to its partnerships and platform teams as part of a recruitment drive.

3i's head of its £1.2bn 3i Infrastructure trust, Cressida Hogg, has quit the firm to take on an unnamed role outside the group.

It is harder for equity managers to invest now than in the run up to the financial crisis, according to Bruce Stout, manager of the £1.3bn Murray International trust.

Unbundled pricing now visible on Fidelity's 'Select List' service suggests asset managers have avoided a squeeze on margins, with just four of 66 active equity funds priced below 75bps.

Analysts at Numis have compared charges from the likes of Barclays, Brewin, Coutts and Rathbones to investigate how industry fees stack up against platforms' newly-unveiled clean prices.

Direct-to-consumer platform Strawberry Invest has launched today, with an annual platform charge of 0.40% on the first £50,000.

INVESTMENT TRUSTS

Deutsche Asset & Wealth Management has become the latest ETF provider to enter the price war raging across the sector, creating a range of low cost db X-trackers with an all-in annual fee of 9bps.