SVM's Veitch profits from raising financials exposure

Neil Veitch, manager of the SVM World Equity fund, has benefited from increasing exposure to financials in the last six months, as the loosening of Basel III requirements for banks has boosted the sector.

Between November and December, the portfolio’s exposure to financials rose from 7.7% to 12.7%. Veitch bought into banks such as HSBC, which is now one of the fund’s top 10 holdings at 3.7%. “Banking stocks have performed strongly in the past six months and our outlook is that they will continue their recent outperformance,” Veitch said. Other bank holdings added to the portfolio include Credit Suisse and JPMorgan, which have contributed to the fund’s return of 15.5% over the past six months. The manager has also recently increased his exposure to cyclical stocks, such as Italian tyre...