Wintle swaps energy and tech for banks in Neptune US Opps

Neptune's Felix Wintle has been adding to national and regional banks in his £464m US Opportunities fund, cutting technology and energy stocks after a strong run.

In a reversal of his positioning last summer, the manager has been adding beta to the portfolio, moving from an underweight in banks he held throughout 2011 to a neutral position at about 16% of the fund. He said the ECB’s long-term refinancing operation has given him confidence that banks will not be allowed to fail, and has dramatically lowered volatility and improved liquidity in the market. “The likelihood of any one bank going under is now massively reduced and almost eliminated because the ECB will act as a backstop. We have bought two investment banks and real estate play CBRE....