This has been a bleak month for the euro zone. A string of weak data releases, including flat region-wide GDP growth, and a contraction in Germany and Italy (the latter for the second quarter in a row, indicating recession), suggests the recovery not been sustained.

The recent failure and bail-in of African Bank Limited is isolated and any contagion to the large South African banks is likely to be limited, Fitch Ratings says. It does not change our view of the credit profiles of the largest five banks, so there are no rating changes.

The California Public Employees' Retirement System (CalPERS) is poised to get back up to $250 million in damages from Bank of America in a federal investigation settlement announced today by California Attorney General Kamala Harris.

Equity investments returned 4.0 percent, and fixed-income investments 2.0 percent. The return on these investments was 0.1 percentage point lower than the return on the benchmark indices. Investments in real estate returned 3.0 percent.

Global investors are enjoying a bumper year for dividends, according to the latest Global Dividend Index (HGDI) from Henderson Global Investors. Overall pay-outs grew 11.7% year on year in the second quarter to a new record of $426.8bn, an increase of $44.6bn.