Stock price when the opinion was issued
He sold in 2013/14 because cross selling did not work. They were going to increase returns to shareholders and that did not materialize. As a British bank they are in a better position than a European bank. But he does not want to be a British bank because the American markets have access to your capital. He thinks the outperformance of non-Canadian banks is probably over.
The overriding issue for them is that it is very much a UK centric story. In the context of a BREXIT, there is likely to be some downside on GDP growth for the UK economy, maybe 5% per year for 4 or 5 years until everything normalizes. Thereafter, there might be some growth. In the interim, you will likely see higher interest rates for banks, but you will see contracting earnings opportunities. You want to look at banks that have UK exposure, but also outside growth. He would suggest looking at HSBC Holdings (HSBC-N) or Banco Santander (SAN-N).