Hedge funds that shorted major banks and won

In The AFR I speak to the hedge funds that shorted the major banks and won. I also present analysis on how the major banks' dividend payout ratios have changed over time and how they compare to key peers around the world (see charts below). "We were meeting with planners in April and they asked us what our biggest 'short' was, and we said 'Aussie banks'," recounts the notoriously gruff Stephen Aboud (aka "Sheikh"), who, alongside his partner Marcus Hughes, has the "hottest hands" in Aussie equities right now. "We were howled down," continues Sheikh, who previously ran the Lowy family's stocks. "The planners countered: 'What about the banks' yields? Surely that makes them a beautiful bet in a low-cash-rate world?' "We warned them about capital losses and that the highest returns on equity and dividend payout ratios in the world were simply not sustainable. They asked which specific bank we were short – 'all the big boys', was our response." Read my article for free here (VIEW LINK)