Why we are avoiding large-cap UK banks

ON UK INCOME

Rathbone's George Viney explains why he has made the controversial decision to hold no UK bank stocks.

Berkshire Hathaway’s Charlie Munger likes to tell investors the story of the old rustic who said, “tell me where I am going to die so I do not go there”. The message is simple: minimising risk is a strategy for long-term success. In this vein, large-cap UK banks continue to carry substantial risks that are best avoided. This is controversial because the sector’s decline so far this year, especially at Lloyds, has some fellow value investors excited they are on to a bargain. However, Lloyds and other banks are statistically cheap for good reason. In our view, they are low-quality compa...