MM Warburg bank avoids UK assets

MM Warburg, one of the few banks to predict Britons would vote to leave the EU, is avoiding UK assets.

Since the June referendum, the 218-year-old Hamburg-based lender has limited its direct investments in UK equities and bonds and will continue to do so, according to Carsten Klude, its head of asset management and chief economist.

Even as he acknowledges having “burned” his fingers — the UK’s stocks and government debt are top performers in Europe this year — Mr Klude says a so-called hard Brexit is looking increasingly likely and will send the assets tumbling.