Rathbones' Stick sells down banks to focus on insurers

Carl Stick has totally sold out of bank holdings in his £483m Rathbone Income fund, looking instead to stocks in the insurance and retail sectors.

Stick, investment manager and director at the firm, says he does not see much value versus the risk involved in banks in the current market. The fund has gradually exited banking stocks over the past three to four years, starting with Northern Rock in 2007; Barclays and Lloyds in 2008, Standard Chartered in 2009 and HSBC in January this year. Stick says he sees the UK market as generally overvalued, due to a period of growth that has happened "too quickly", especially in China, and the pace of recovery in the UK and the US housing market. The manager is now looking at insurance und...