Bearish Gartside withdraws from financials

Schroders manager extracts all exposure from financials, believing bank nationalisations may prove costly to returns

Schroders' Nick Gartside has withdrawn all exposure to financials from his Strategic Bond fund, fearing losing money to bank nationalisations. The manager was 5% in the sector until 22 January when he reallocated towards infrastructure and recently issued or defensive corporates like Pemex and McDonalds. "I think that, in a world where we are deleveraging, financials concern me," he says. "And I think we are moving towards a creeping nationalisation of the banks. "In that situation, it is clear what happens to equity holders, but not so much for bond holders. There are bigger opport...