UK IFAs are among hundreds of creditors facing severe losses in a £60m investment scheme marketed as low risk but "tainted with illegality", according to the firm's liquidators.

Hargreaves Lansdown is reducing the minimum investment required to open an account from £500 to £100 in a bid to entice low-value clients.

Japan's GDP shrunk by 6.8% on an annualised basis in the second quarter following a hike in the country's sales tax.

Neuberger Berman has hired M&G's Gillian Tiltman for its global real estate securities team.

Neil Woodford has added a new position in Royal Mail to his £2.4bn Woodford Equity Income fund as the company's share price began to falter this year.

Standard Life Investments' inflows fell 43% in the first half of this year, but profits still rose 9%.

PIMCO's giant Total Return Bond fund - headed up by Bill Gross - suffered outflows in July, clocking up its fifteenth straight month of withdrawals, according to new data.

Woodford Investment Management was the best-selling fund group by active sales in the second quarter of this year, after raising £1.6bn for its Equity Income fund.

The US economy created 209,000 new jobs in July, its sixth straight month of 200,000 plus jobs added to the economy, but nonetheless undershot forecasts.

The FTSE 100 is on course for its worst day in four months as nervous investors begin August in cautious mode.