'Luck' saves French investor from Standard Chartered losses

While other investors are burnt by Standard Chartered (STAN.L)’s sudden and precipitous share-price fall, one French fund manager managed to bail out just before the news about the bank’s alleged dealings with Iran broke. And he did so by pure luck.

‘Sometimes you have days like that where you have a bit of luck. It was good timing by one day,' Yohan Salleron of fund manager Mandarine Gestion told Citywire. Shares in Standard Chartered have dropped 269p or 18% today to £12.

The Paris-based boutique manager said his decision to sell had not been down to any prior knowledge of these accusations but simply because it had hit their sale target.

‘In our case, we came back on the stock last month and we sold it yesterday. It is one of the best banks in Europe and this leads it to be more expensive than the other European banks.

‘We came back on it because it had reached our price target and sold it when it reached our sale target.'

But Salleron is staying away now. ‘Despite it returning to levels where we could consider buying it, I have no desire to buy it again as it is likely its image has been badly affected.

‘It is not so much the accusations but the image and risk of discredit they cause for the group’s management and its value.

‘We have to see what will happen in terms of lawsuits for the bank's management. There is no urgency for us to return to the stock.

‘If they also lose regulatory access to the US market that will also change things.’