The manager of the £435m Financial Opportunities, £38m International Financials and €59m (£53m) Global Financials Sicav funds said Tuesday’s 25 basis point cut to the country’s key interest rate was positive for all sectors but financial services in particular.
He said with 50bps of further cuts expected over the next 12 months, lower borrowing costs, alongside controlled inflation and prudent fiscal management – in turn reducing the budget deficit – led to the country “ticking a lot of boxes” for him as an investor in global financials.
“With the growth prospects from the developed markets being quite anaemic at the moment, you have to got to go outside your comfort zone to find sustainable growth opportunities, and India is actually ticking a number of boxes for us,” he said.
Heavily weighted to the developed markets in his funds, de Blonay admitted a UK overweight going into Brexit has weighed on performance, given sterling’s decline. Having had 17% net exposure to sterling before the referendum, this is now 5%.
He said the team benefits from in-house specialist research, drawing on the intelligence of Jupiter India fund manager Avinash Vazirani.
Recognising the power of China, de Blonay is confident in the government’s trajectory moving from an export-based to a consumer-led economy.
