The rally in financial shares is tempting the government-backed investment vehicles that shored up the banks to take profits.The most high-profile example of this came last week when a United Arab Emirates investment vehicle controlled by the ruling Al Nehayan family surprised the market by selling out of its sizeable stake in Barclays. But it is not alone.

Edmund Shing, equity derivatives strategist at BNP Paribas in Paris, said: "The trend we have been seeing on the equities side is for these entities to cash in now. What has to be understood is that sovereign wealth funds, unlike other institutional investors, do not have to chase a benchmark and will quite happily sit in cash."