Meet the manager: Nick Brind
Portfolio manager of Polar Capital Global Financials Trust .
If you weren’t a fund manager, what job would you do?
When I graduated in 1994, I applied to the Royal Hong Kong Police but missed the cut as they had stopped recruiting six months earlier due to the upcoming handover. I also applied to a shipping line but was turned down as I wasn’t Filipino. So on that basis, it would likely involve travel until I decided what I wanted to do.
What was the proudest moment of your career?
At Capel-Cure Myers in 1995 or 1996 an old lady telephoned, in some distress, to ask for our help as the council had cut her social security benefit due to her owning Allied Domecq bonds. My letter to the council pointing out that her bonds were only worth £400, led to them resuming the payments she received to around £35 per month. She wrote to tell me it had taken all her money worries away.
Ultimately the fun part of the job is the intellectual challenge and making money for investors.
Nick Brind, portfolio manager of Polar Capital Global Financials Trust
What was the most difficult moment of your career and why?
It is a toss-up between the collapse of split capital investment trusts in 2001 to 2003 and the global financial crisis. Ultimately the fun part of the job is the intellectual challenge and making money for investors. The reverse is equally true especially if you have been given a mandate where you cannot hedge the downside risk.
What advice would you give to your 20-year-old self?
To study something at university that I was interested in and not Chemistry!
Away from the workplace, how do you spend your time?
During the pandemic we moved into our house with a garden, which was a step up from the car park of the block of flats we used to live in. I enjoy using a variety of cutting implements and hedge trimmers for exercise which beats going to the gym.
Tell us about the last book you read or the last podcast you listened to?
I alternate between thrillers, the latest being Slow Horses by Mick Herron, and either a financial or historical book. The last one which does not entirely fit that pattern, which I would highly recommend, is Material World by Ed Conway. A fascinating and easy read packed full of facts.
Where was the last place you went on holiday and why?
Germany, specifically Munich, Nuremburg and Garmiche-Partenkirchen. It wasn’t for the beer as we were too late for Oktoberfest and not for the food which was very good or to see Neuchwanstein Castle for fans of Dick van Dyke but we did visit Dachau concentration camp which was fascinating and very sobering as you can imagine.
In your personal life, what would you like to achieve in the next 12 months?
Catch up with friends I haven’t seen as often as I would like.
