Janus Henderson technology fund manager Richard Clode is to take full control of Bankers’ (BNKR) investments as the £1.4bn global equities trust abandons its regional structure ahead of the retirement of former lead manager Alex Crooke.

Crooke, a former head of equities for EMEA and Asia Pacific at Janus Henderson, has managed Bankers for 23 years. He will retire in December, bringing his 36-year career to a close.

Clode (pictured), who took on its biggest North America sub-portfolio as co-manager last year, will become its lead manager running Bankers as a unified portfolio, although with continued support from his colleagues Junichi Inoue in Japan and Sat Duhra in Asia.

Chair Simon Miller wished Crooke “the very best for a well-deserved retirement” and thanked him for his “momentous contribution” to Bankers, delivering an annualised 11% return during his long stint which followed a 27-year term under his predecessor Michael Moule. “This exemplifies Bankers’ consistent philosophy of long-term growth and performance,” he said.

The announcement came in half-year results showing Clode’s efforts to streamline the portfolio around high conviction stocks has yet to show up conclusively in performance.

In a six-month period to 30 April marred by the war in Iran, Bankers generated a 3.7% investment return below the 5.5% of the FTSE World index, although shareholders did better with a 6.5% return as the share price discount narrowed.

Clode said while Bankers had benefited from “outsized” profits growth at chip suppliers such as Micron Technology enjoying the huge spend on artificial intelligence, fears of IA disruption had hit cybersecurity software providers Zscaler and Snowflake and undermined internet platforms such as Netflix, Spotify and Sony.

At 30 April, Bankers shares had returned a total, including dividends, of 30.6%, just behind the 31% of its benchmark. Over longer periods, the gap with the index is larger with three and five-year shareholder returns of 49.5% and 37.5% lagging the FTSE World’s 64.2% and 79.9% advances.   

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