Nick Brind, Fund Manager, will be presenting to investors and fielding Q&A
As one of the largest sectors globally, financial companies play a vital role in the health and development of modern economies. An actively-managed portfolio, the Polar Capital Global Financials Trust seeks to find the best investment opportunities across the world of financials, with the aim of delivering income and capital growth.
Why invest in Financials?
Together, financial companies form one of the largest investment sectors in the world.
More than just banks, they include insurance companies (including non-life insurers, reinsurers and life assurers), asset managers and stock exchanges, and, more recently, technology-based providers such as online payment companies and challenger banks.
That breadth provides investors with a vast array of choice and the ability to tap into the high growth potential of the likes of FinTech companies or income in the form of dividends.
How the companies operate – and in turn how they perform from an investment point of view – can differ markedly from region to region, again creating opportunities.
Why the Polar Capital Global Financials Trust (PCFT)?
PCFT aims to select the best investment opportunities from the world of financials. The investment team scours the globe and actively invests in developed regions such as the US as well as emerging economies and Asia. With a relatively low exposure to UK companies, the Trust could be a complementary holding to existing UK financial stocks.
Investing in a specialist sector such as financials requires an expert eye. The five-strong team at Polar Capital invests solely in financials and has done for many years. The culture at the firm is collegiate and, as such, the managers are able to draw on the expertise of the wider investment teams at Polar Capital, which includes a dedicated Global Insurance team.
The Trust aims to deliver capital growth and income through dividends. A feature of an investment trust is the ability to store income to facilitate dividend payments during times when its underlying companies are unable to do so. One example of this is during the COVID-19 pandemic when many financial companies did not pay a dividend, but PCFT maintained its own income payment.