Star fund manager Neil Woodford: Bank shares are in recovery mode
Shares in UK-listed banks are on their way to recovery, one of the UK's leading fund managers has said – although he also speculated over the role of regulators.
The FT reported this morning that star fund manager Neil Woodford had said UK lenders are "more investable than they've been in a long time", adding compared with the financial crisis, "the situation [is] somewhat different now".
Speaking at the launch of his new Income Focus fund, due to launch in March, the founder of Woodford Investment Management also voiced concern over the role of the financial regulator, saying it had a "vested interest in ensuring everybody retains the appropriate level of confidence in the banking system".
Woodford's comments came on the day RBS posted a £7bn loss, causing shares to fall 2.8 per cent.
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Short-termism
It's not the first time Woodford has spoken out against City organisations: in September Woodford spoke out against short-termism in the City, complaining about fund managers who "do not behave or think like owners".
In a report by the High Pay Centre, he said fund managers "are borrowing stock rather than investing in it".
"Regrettably, this view and approach is not shared by many in the UK investment industry and I believe the problem is getting worse. Many fund managers do not behave or think like owners, because they are borrowing stock rather than investing in it. In many institutions, corporate governance duties have been separated from fund management responsibilities."