Neptune's Burnett: Is this the gamechanger for Italian banks?

Rob Burnett's decision to retain a contrarian position to peripheral banks in his Neptune European Opportunities fund has dragged on performance in recent years.

However, new legislation has given the Italian banking sector a much-needed boost and helped turnaround performance on the fund, which has suffered due to an overweight to financials.  "Europe as an asset class is back in vogue and the new legislation could trigger a lot of consolidation in the banking sector," Burnett (pictured) said. Historically, shareholders of the 'popolari banks' are only entitled to a single vote each on group activities, regardless of the size of their stake. However, this situation is set to be abandoned soon in favour of a vote-per-share system, as the Itali...