Skip to Content Skip to Main Navigation

Fund commentary

Market Review
Financial stocks faced a mixed bag of news flow in December. Chinese consumer price inflation continued to come off its highs sharply, sparking hopes for a new round of economic easing by the Chinese government. US economy showed better than expected resilience. The European Central Bank (ECB) offered a three-year tender providing almost €500bn extra liquidity to banks. However, this was offset by reduced demand for shorter-term tenders and the banks’ continued preference for placing excess liquidity over-night with the ECB.

Fund Performance
Fund performance was positive in December, beating the FTSE World Financials index, which was driven by the strong performance of US banks JPMorgan and Wells Fargo. Swiss private bank Julius Baer was the best performing stock. ING was the Fund’s weakest performer as the market worried about the ongoing sovereign debt crisis in the euro zone and its potential impact on the Dutch bank’s ability to list or sell the insurance business.

Fund Positioning
With regards to activity, we took profits in Burford Capital after. In addition we liquidated our holdings in Tullett Prebon and Close Brother after weak outlook statements and re-invested the proceeds into American Express and US asset management group T. Rowe Price. We also switched the holding in Mizuho Financial Group into Sumitomo Mitsui Financial Group as we think the latter offers better growth prospects at a similar valuation.


Michael Wasserrmann & Stephen Hall
31 December 2011
Funds in focus



This section of the site is for professional use only and must not be accessed by retail investors.



Important Information for Professional Advisers.

Please read this page before proceeding, as it explains certain restrictions imposed by law on the distribution of this information and the countries in which our funds are authorised for sale. It is your responsibility to be aware of and to observe all applicable laws and regulations of any relevant jurisdiction.

This does not constitute an offer or solicitation to sell shares in any of the funds referred to on this site, by anyone in any jurisdiction in which such offer, solicitation or distribution would be unlawful or in which the person making such offer or solicitation is not qualified to do so or to anyone to whom it is unlawful to make such offer or solicitation.

Applications to invest in any fund referred to on this site, must only be made on the basis of the offer document relating to the specific investment (e.g. prospectus, simplified prospectus or other applicable terms and conditions).

As a result of money laundering regulations, additional documentation for identification purposes may be required when you make your investment. Details are contained in the relevant Prospectus or other constitutional document.

If you are unsure about the meaning of any information provided please consult your financial or other professional adviser.

The information contained on this site is subject to copyright with all rights reserved. It must not be reproduced, copied or redistributed in whole or in part.

You may leave the Scottish Widows Investment Partnership Limited (SWIP) website when you access certain links on this website. In so doing, you may be proceeding to the site of an organisation that is not regulated under the UK Financial Services and Markets Act 2000. SWIP has not examined any of these websites and does not assume any responsibility for the contents of such websites nor the services, products or items offered through such websites.

SWIP shall have no liability for any data transmission errors such as data loss or damage or alteration of any kind, including, but not limited to, any direct, indirect or consequential damage, arising out of the use of the services provided herein.

On accessing the SWIP website, you are aware of the following investment risks applicable to all SWIP funds:

  • Past performance is no guarantee of future performance.
  • The value of investments and the income from them may go down as well as up and are not guaranteed.
  • Your client may not get back the amount they invested.
  • Taxation rules and legislation may change without notice.
  • Rates of exchange may cause the value of investments to go up or down.
  • Fluctuation may be particularly marked in the case of a higher volatility fund and the value of an investment may fall suddenly and substantially.
  • For your protection, telephone calls are usually recorded.

This site is operated and issued by Scottish Widows Investment Partnership Limited, Company No. 794936. Registered Office in the United Kingdom at 33 Old Broad Street, London EC2N 1HZ. Tel: 0131 655 8500. Scottish Widows Investment Partnership Limited is authorised and regulated by the Financial Services Authority and is entered on their register under number 193707 (www.fsa.gov.uk).


SWIP toolkit

Scottish Widows Investment Partnership Limited (SWIP) is registered in England and Wales, Company No. 794936. Registered Office is at 33 Old Broad Street, London EC2N 1HZ. Tel: 0131 655 8500. SWIP is authorised and regulated by the Financial Services Authority and is entered on their register under number 193707 (www.fsa.gov.uk).