M&G, the fund management arm of the Prudential, was hit hard in the second quarter by a big pullback from the bond market by retail investors – ending 14 consecutive quarters of net retail inflows for the manager of one of the largest bond mutual funds in Europe.

In its first half results, Prudential said small investors withdrew £4 billion from M&G's retail funds between the end of March and the end of June, "reflecting a change in investor sentiment away from fixed income, a trend we expect to continue into the second half of this year".