Financial Institutions

Over the course of the past fiscal year, the QUIC Financial Institutions portfolio returned (1.9%) and underperformed the benchmark by (27.2%). Our performance was driven by an investment process that focused on making concentrated investments in companies within our circle of competence while focusing on small-cap companies that were less covered by the street.

Incumbent financial institutions companies face significant hurdles as new financial technology companies continue to gain traction. The QUIC FIG team believes that the new entrants have the ability to impede the incumbents’ moats for traditional banking and payments, we believe the change will take place over the long run. With regards to REITs, FIG anticipates there to be ample opportunities albeit less than the past two fiscal years given real estate’s strong performance this year.