EX-TRADER CHARGED

A former BlackRock investment portfolio manager has been charged with insider trading.

Mark Alexander Lyttleton, 45, was arrested more than three years ago. He has now been charged with three counts of insider dealing between October 2 and December 16, 2011, and was summonsed yesterday to appear at City of London Magistrates’ Court. If found guilty he could be jailed for up to seven years.