Why Diageo? People won't stop drinking Johnnie Walker in a hurry say fund managers

However there are pockets in the sector that meet the team’s criteria, such as trust banks like State Street and Bank of New York Mellon which act as global custodians for many asset managers. ‘These are very good businesses that are trading at historic, depressed levels,’ said Morley.

When assessing whether or not to invest in a stock the team pay particular attention to the company’s business model, indeed they believe their understanding of them is what sets them apart from their peers and gives them the confidence to buy stocks when they are undergoing periods of stress.

‘The great luxury we are afforded is that we can take a long-term view. The market can become over concerned with short-term issues such as weak consumer data, but these things are transitory, we look through the near-term noise,’ said Morley.

Turning to emerging markets, the fund owns ‘a smattering of emerging market banks’ as they believe that as credit penetration grows in these countries they will begin to play a bigger role.

‘Our only issue on a stock by stock basis is that they are looking expensive,’ said Morley.

In terms of geographic breakdown the fund owns bank stocks in India and Brazil but stays clear of Chinese banks as the team believe they have ‘governance concerns’ and consider them to be a little expensive.

The fund also owns Standard Chartered bank which despite being UK listed is also an emerging market bank.

Over a three-year period the MFS Meridian Global Equity Fund has fallen by 7.76% compared with the 17.95% loss in the MSCI World index.