Christian Mayes, Portfolio Adviser, 03 September 2025:
The £1.2bn Bankers Investment Trust has appointed Janus Henderson technology fund manager Richard Clode (pictured) to run the trust’s North America sleeve.
He joined Janus Henderson in 2014 and co-manages the firm’s Global Technology Leaders fund.
Clode has previously been involved in investment trusts, having started his career at Herald Investment Trust. He later held roles at Gartmore, Moore Capital and Pioneer Investments.
He will co-manage the Bankers portfolio alongside Alex Crooke, who has managed the company’s portfolio since 2003..
Reacting to the appointment, Dan Coatsworth, investment analyst at AJ Bell, said: “The investment trust universe is undergoing considerable change as sub-scale trusts merge or are wound up, while underperforming larger ones are either changing management or tweaking their investment process in a bid to generate better returns..
James Carthew, head of investment company research at QuotedData, added: “Bankers’ short and long-term performance numbers rank towards the bottom of its peer group. In January, around the time of the annual results, the trust flagged its US and Mag 7 underweight as reasons why performance had been relatively poor and said it would address that.
“If we look at the top 10 now, five of the mag seven feature, as does Broadcom – which is arguably a replacement for Tesla in that group. However, the missing ingredient is Nvidia. Having missed out on its spectacular rise, navigating the next stage may be tricky and a manager who knows technology could be useful.”
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