The following financial services industry appointments were announced on Tuesday including Barclays, Hiscox, Hartford Funds and Aon Risk Solutions

Index, a startup that provides software to enhance customer experience in physical stores, received USD7 million in Series A investment from investors including Innovation Endeavors, of which Google executive chairman Eric Schmidt is a co-founder.

Atomico's Fund III was intended to provide financial support to startups who are raising money via later-stage funding rounds to aid them in scaling their businesses.

Proceeds to be received from the planned initial public offering of New Zealand aviation company Airwork would go towards a stock buyback program, repay debts to affiliates and inject working capital into the firm.

Xiao Gang, head of the China Securities Regulatory Commission, said the new reforms planned by the government on public share sales will increase the role of free market forces.

Antony Leung, the Greater China Chairman of Blackstone Group, would be making an exit from the private equity company to become the Chief Executive Officer of Nan Fung Group Holdings Ltd.

A report from The New York Times's The Dealbook showed where some members of the finance team who served in the first term of President Barack Obama are now.

When companies see activist investors as a threat before, a Reuters article said companies are now treating these types of investors as a catalyst for corporate change.

Potential investors would be having difficulty acquiring a majority ownership stake in beverage company Yeo Hiap Seng Ltd due to the Ng family, who had a controlling interest in Yeo's via Far East Organization.

Although taking different approaches, investors Bill Ackman and Bruce Berkowitz were attempting to salvage securities acquired before the US housing crisis with a combined value of more than USD100 billion, said a Bloomberg report.