Investec's van Pittius: Greek debt restructure will hit EM banks

Investec Asset Management's Werner Gey van Pittius has warned an imminent restructure of Greek debt would lead to full-blown risk aversion and hit emerging market banks.

Gey van Pittius, who co-manages the $111m Emerging Market Currency Alpha fund with Peter Eerdmans, said at an Investec conference this week one of his main concerns would be if the ECB and Germany decided to restructure Greece's debt now, as this would have a knock-on effect in EMs. He said: "The European banks would be out of pocket. If they stop lending to emerging market banks it would lead to full-blown risk aversion." As a result, he said emerging market countries may resort to more protectionist policies, which would see emerging market currencies rise and countries cutting rate...