Sanjeev Shah, who took over the UK arm of Anthony Bolton’s £2.1bn (€2.4bn) Special Situations Fund in January 2007, is starting to buy shares in the UK’s troubled banks.

Known as a contrarian, he is maintaining an overweight position in financials, despite coming unstuck with a few value traps last year. His 6%-geared £250m Special Values investment trust follows the same approach.