If you must buy a bank, this is the one to buy

Banks don't make particularly attractive investments at the moment. But if you must buy one, says Phil Oakley - then one bank stands out from the rest.

As you might have noticed, we're not keen on banks.

The trouble is, you don't really know what you are buying. Banks' balance sheets are very complex things. It is virtually impossible to work out what they own and what they owe.

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Phil spent 13 years as an investment analyst for both stockbroking and fund management companies.

 

After graduating with a MSc in International Banking, Economics & Finance from Liverpool Business School in 1996, Phil went to work for BWD Rensburg, a Liverpool based investment manager. In 2001, he joined ABN AMRO as a transport analyst. After a brief spell as a food retail analyst, he spent five years with ABN's very successful UK Smaller Companies team where he covered engineering, transport and support services stocks.

 

In 2007, Phil joined Halbis Capital Management as a European equities analyst. He began writing for MoneyWeek in 2010.