Polar Capital Global Financials Trust plc (the "Company"): The Company is an investment company with investment trust status and its shares are excluded from the Financial Conduct Authority’s (“FCA”) restrictions on the promotion of non-mainstream investment products. The Company conducts its affairs, and intends to continue to conduct its affairs, so that the exemption will apply.
The Company is an Alternative Investment Fund under the EU's Alternative Investment Fund Managers Directive 2011/61/EU as it forms part of UK law by virtue of the European Union (Withdrawal) Act 2018.
The Investment Manager: Polar Capital LLP is the investment manager of the Company (the "Investment Manager"). The Investment Manager is authorised and regulated by the FCA and is a registered investment adviser with the United States' Securities and Exchange Commission.
Key Risks
- Investors' capital is at risk and there is no guarantee the Company will achieve its objective.
- Past performance is not a reliable guide to future performance.
- The value of investments may go down as well as up.
- Investors might get back less than they originally invested.
- The value of an investment’s assets may be affected by a variety of uncertainties such as (but not limited to): (i) international political developments; (ii) market sentiment; and (iii) economic conditions.
- The shares of the Company may trade at a discount or a premium to Net Asset Value.
- The Company may use derivatives which carry the risk of reduced liquidity, substantial loss and increased volatility in adverse market conditions.
- The Company invests in assets denominated in currencies other than the Company's base currency and changes in exchange rates may have a negative impact on the value of the Company's investments.
- The Company invests in a concentrated number of companies based in one sector. This focused strategy can lead to significant losses. The Company may be less diversified than other investment companies.
- The Company may invest in emerging markets where there is a greater risk of volatility than developed economies, for example due to political and economic uncertainties and restrictions on foreign investment. Emerging markets are typically less liquid than developed economies which may result in large price movements to the Company.
Important Information
Not an offer to buy or sell: This document is not an offer to buy or sell or a solicitation of an offer to buy or sell any security, and under no circumstances is it to be construed as a prospectus or an advertisement. This document does not constitute, and may not be used for the purposes of, an offer of the securities of, or any interests in, the Company by any person in any jurisdiction in which such offer or invitation is not authorised.
Information subject to change: Any opinions expressed in this document may change.
Not Investment Advice: This document does not contain information material to the investment objectives or financial needs of the recipient. This document is not advice on legal, taxation or investment matters. Prospective investors must rely on their own examination of the consequences of an investment in the Company. Investors are advised to consult their own professional advisors concerning the investment.
No reliance: No reliance should be placed upon the contents of this document by any person for any purposes whatsoever. None of the Company, the Investment Manager or any of their respective affiliates accepts any responsibility for providing any investor with access to additional information, for revising or for correcting any inaccuracy in this document.
Performance and Holdings: All data is as at the document date unless indicated otherwise. Company holdings and performance are likely to have changed since the report date. Company information is provided by the Investment Manager.
Benchmark:The Company is actively managed and uses the MSCI ACWI Financials Net TR Index as a performance target and to calculate the performance fee. The benchmark has been chosen as it is generally considered to be representative of the investment universe in which the Company invests. The performance of the Company is likely to differ from the performance of the benchmark as the holdings, weightings and asset allocation will be different. Investors should carefully consider these differences when making comparisons. Further information about the benchmark can be found www.mscibarra.com.
Third-party Data: Some information contained in this document has been obtained from third party sources and has not been independently verified. Neither the Company nor any other party involved in compiling, computing or creating the data makes any warranties or representations with respect to such data, and all such parties expressly disclaim all warranties of originality, accuracy, completeness, merchantability or fitness for a particular purpose with respect to any data contained within this document.
Country Specific Disclaimers
United States: The information contained within this document does not constitute or form a part of any offer to sell or issue, or the solicitation of any offer to purchase, subscribe for or otherwise acquire, any securities in the United States or in any jurisdiction in which such an offer or solicitation would be unlawful. The Company has not been and will not be registered under the United States Investment Company Act of 1940, as amended (the “Investment Company Act”) and, as such, the holders of its shares will not be entitled to the benefits of the Investment Company Act. In addition, the offer and sale of the Securities have not been, and will not be, registered under the U.S. Securities Act of 1933, as amended (the “Securities Act”). No Securities may be offered or sold or otherwise transacted within the United States or to, or for the account or benefit of U.S. Persons (as defined in Regulation S of the Securities Act). In connection with the transaction referred to in this document the shares of the Company will be offered and sold only outside the United States to, and for the account or benefit of non-U.S. Persons in “offshore- transactions” within the meaning of, and in reliance on the exemption from registration provided by Regulation S under the Securities Act. No money, securities or other consideration is being solicited and, if sent in response to the information contained in this document, will not be accepted. Any failure to comply with the above restrictions may constitute a violation of such securities laws.
Further Information about the Company: Investment in the Company is an investment in the shares of the Company and not in the underlying investments of the Company. Further information about the Company and any risks can be found in the Company’s Key Information Document, the Annual Report and Financial Statements and the Investor Disclosure Document which are available on the Company's website, found at: https://www.polarcapitalglobalfinancialstrust.com
Fund Manager Commentary As at 30 January 2026
Market and Trust review
Global markets saw a volatile start to the year impacted by heightened geopolitical risk ranging from regime change in Venezuela, US pressure over Greenland and deadly protests in Iran. The surprise nomination of Kevin Warsh, considered an inflation hawk, as the next Federal Reserve Chair contributed to the market’s volatility. With macro data broadly surprising to the upside, cyclicals outperformed and returns have broadened outside the US with emerging markets and Europe materially outperforming. The Trust’s NAV rose 0.9% in the month, outperforming the MSCI ACWI Financials Index by 1.8%, supported by the overweight position in Europe, strength in Asian life insurers and trading platforms (in both the US and Europe). This was partially offset by weakness in certain emerging market holdings (in India and Indonesia) and the underweight in HSBC Holdings.
Democratisation of trading
The democratisation of trading is a key theme for PCFT through its holdings in companies like Interactive Brokers Group, FlatexDEGIRO, Plus500 and IG Group Holdings. Advances in technology, lower costs and fractional ownership have lowered the barriers to entry for investment and empowered individuals to participate in investing earlier and more actively. These trends have coincided with behavioural shifts: younger generations, particularly millennials, are investing at earlier ages than previous cohorts thanks to greater access, innovation in products offered (predictive markets being the latest iteration) but also affordability barriers to home ownership. This structural shift in retail demand has led to strong growth for those trading platforms that can offer low costs, transparent pricing and a robust online offering. For example, Interactive Brokers Group, a holding in the Trust, reported a 32% year-on-year increase in client accounts to 4.4m in 4Q25. In response to demographic shifts and growing savings gaps, we are also seeing increased policy maker support to incentivise earlier long-term savings through tax changes and pension reform. One example is in Germany where Chancellor Merz has emphasised the requirement to modernise the German pension system through expanding the role for capital-funded private retirement savings and occupational pension schemes. We would expect progress on German pension reform to provide a material support to growth for companies like FlatexDEGIRO, a leading European online broker we view as well placed to sustain its strong growth.
US bank results
Recent results for banks in the US have largely come in ahead of expectations and have reassured on the outlook. US bank guidance implies double-digit earnings growth for 2026 (following a 17% increase last year) supported by lower funding costs, a pick-up in lending and a revival in capital market activity, positive operating leverage and a lower share count. While provisioning is expected to see a small increase (related to loan growth), asset quality data (non-performing loans -1bp) and commentary in the quarter pointed to a broadly stable picture. Regulatory developments received a lot of attention following President Trump’s call for a one-year 10% cap on credit card rates which weighed on the card lenders. We believe there is a relatively low probability of this passing through Congress, given the subsequent restriction on credit to borrowers, but expect elevated noise on potential populist measures ahead of the mid-term elections. Despite the recent threat to impose rate caps for card lenders, we consider the broader theme of regulatory easing for banks to continue. This is primarily driven by new leadership at the Federal Reserve, the Options Clearing Corporation and the Federal Deposit Insurance Corporation (FDIC) which are looking to recalibrate the supervisory approach with a focus back to responsible growth.
Artificial intelligence
AI vendor Anthropic’s launch at the end of the month of new plug-ins for Claude CoWork weighed on share prices within the Software, Data and Business Services sectors. This concern spread to Alternative Asset Managers with those companies with larger investments in the technology sector seeing the steepest sell-offs. There is an ongoing reassessment by the market of what constitutes proprietary data, what value customers will place on data services and ultimately what ‘moat’ companies operating within these sectors will have in the future. As with other paradigm shifts, the market is struggling to adapt to the pace of change with often little discrimination as to which businesses are exposed to AI disruption. Similarly, the rise of agentic-AI has impacted sentiment for the payments sector with merchant acquirers potentially at risk of disintermediation if they no longer become the orchestration layer for autonomous transactions. While the often-indiscriminate selling pressure has opened up opportunities for investment, it will take time to disprove the bear case, during which AI developments will continue to be revealed, so we have reduced the Trust’s exposure to the sub-sectors exposed and are now further underweight.
Outlook
In what has been a volatile month with markets impacted by both geopolitical and technological developments, we have been encouraged by recent results which have highlighted solid operating trends and have built conviction in the core themes the Trust is invested in.
Nick Brind
Nick’s experience comes from running specialist and generalist funds with UK and global mandates for the past 25+ years
George Barrow
George is a specialist financials fund manager as well as an analyst across Europe, Asia and emerging markets
Tom Dorner
Tom joined Polar Capital in 2023 as a financials fund manager and is the analyst responsible for the global insurance sector.
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