64 funds with major positions in under-fire Standard Chartered

7 August 2012 | By Gary Jackson

More than 60 funds in the IMA universe have a major holding in allegation-hit Standard Chartered, with the bank being a popular holding of Aberdeen’s Asian equities team.

Standard Chartered’s share price has plunged after the New York State Department of Financial Services alleged the bank hid £160bn in transactions linked to Iran, which violates US law. As of 10:23 BST, the bank’s shares were down 20.58 per cent on the London Stock Exchange.

Data from FE Analytics shows that 64 funds in the IMA universe feature Standard Chartered in their top 10 holdings.

Aberdeen’s Asian equities team holds the stock in many of its portfolios including the £4.5bn Aberdeen Global Asia Pacific Equity fund, where it has a 3.1 per cent* weighting.

The team have a 3.6 per cent* allocation to the bank in the £2.1bn Aberdeen Asia Pacific fund, a 4.1 per cent* position in the £1bn Aberdeen Global Chinese Equity fund and a 3.1 per cent* weighting in the £219.7m Aberdeen Asia Pacific and Japan fund. The stock is also in the top 10 of the team’s £44m Aberdeen All Asia investment trust*.

Overall, Aberdeen Asset Management owns about 6 per cent of Standard Chartered.

Other large portfolios featuring the bank in their top 10 allocations include James Macpherson’s £956.2m BlackRock UK Equity fund*, Jason Pidcock’s £621.7m Newton Oriental fund*, Matthew Brown’s £541m Newton 50/50 Global Equity fund* and Catherine Stanley’s £495m F&C Stewardship Growth fund*.

Standard Chartered “strongly rejects” the regulator’s allegations and says “well over 99.9 per cent” of the transactions linked to Iran complied with regulations.

* as at June 30

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