SVM's Hugh Cuthbert has more than doubled his exposure to banks in his Continental European fund this year as the sector has proved resilient in the face of regulatory threats.
Only seven out of 91 EU banks failed July’s stress tests, while Basel III funding requirements were diluted, leading the manager to increase his holdings in banks from 9.2% to 19.7%. However, he would consider paring this back if populist anti-bank political rhetoric translates into action, he says. The manager has cash reserves of more than 10%, and has trimmed individual positions in the fund to finance the move. Since July, Cuthbert has opened positions in UBS (2.3%) and Société Générale (2.4%), and has increased holdings in ING and DnB NOR to 2.6% and 3.5% respectively since th...
To continue reading this article...
Join Investment Week for free
- Unlimited access to real-time news, analysis and opinion from the investment industry, including the Sustainable Hub covering fund news from the ESG space
- Get ahead of regulatory and technological changes affecting fund management
- Important and breaking news stories selected by the editors delivered straight to your inbox each day
- Weekly members-only newsletter with exclusive opinion pieces from leading industry experts
- Be the first to hear about our extensive events schedule and awards programmes