Mar 15, 2024
Brevan Howard Cuts About 10% of Traders Amid Hedge Fund Losses
Bloomberg News
,![The office building at 55 Baker Street, housing the offices of Brevan Howard Asset Management LP, in London, U.K., on Monday, Aug. 23, 2021. Famed investment firm Brevan Howard, which as recently as mid-2019 was struggling to stem an unprecedented client exodus, shut its flagship fund to investors earlier this year. Photographer: Jason Alden/Bloomberg, Bloomberg The office building at 55 Baker Street, housing the offices of Brevan Howard Asset Management LP, in London, U.K., on Monday, Aug. 23, 2021. Famed investment firm Brevan Howard, which as recently as mid-2019 was struggling to stem an unprecedented client exodus, shut its flagship fund to investors earlier this year. Photographer: Jason Alden/Bloomberg](/polopoly_fs/1.2047486.1710544185!/fileimage/httpImage/image.jpg_gen/derivatives/landscape_620/the-office-building-at-55-baker-street-housing-the-offices-of-brevan-howard-asset-management-lp-in-london-u-k-on-monday-aug-23-2021-famed-investment-firm-brevan-howard-which-as-recently-as-mid-2019-was-struggling-to-stem-an-unprecedented-client-exodus-shut-its-flagship-fund-to-investors-earlier-this-year-photographer-jason-alden-bloomberg.jpg)
(Bloomberg) -- Brevan Howard Asset Management, the hedge fund co-founded by billionaire Alan Howard, is cutting about two dozen traders, or about 10% of the total, people familiar with the matter said.
The Jersey, Channel Islands-based firm eliminated a batch of traders for underperformance as part of its twice-a-year review, the people said, asking not to be identified discussing internal matters. A representative for Brevan Howard, which employs roughly 210 traders, declined to comment.
Brevan Howard’s flagship Master Fund, which manages about $12.4 billion of assets, has slumped an estimated 3% this year while the $12.9-billion Alpha Strategies fund has slipped 2.2%, Bloomberg News reported earlier this month.
The world’s biggest hedge funds, which deploy multiple teams of traders across strategies to chase steady returns, have gone on a hiring spree by offering top payouts. As some of them face scrutiny from investors for their high fees and lackluster performance, the funds may be starting to review their cost structures more closely.
Read More: Hedge Fund Startups on the Rise With Giant Firms Under Scrutiny
Some of Brevan Howard’s departing employees focused on so-called macro trading, a form of investing that uses government bonds, currencies and derivatives to profit from global economic trends, the people said. Others worked in systematic trading, which relies on computer models and technical analysis of chart patterns to determine when to buy and sell assets.
Brevan Howard’s Master Fund reported an estimated 3.2% loss for February, one of the worst monthly performances since Howard helped start the firm in 2002, after bets on US interest rates backfired, Bloomberg News reported. The fund slid 1.9% in 2023 and gained 22% the year earlier.
Read More: Brevan Howard Fund Racks Up 3% Loss in February on Fed Bets
Walleye Capital is among other hedge funds cutting jobs. It is dismissing about a dozen employees, including the head of its global discretionary macro business, as its restructures operations, Bloomberg News reported this week. Back in November, Schonfeld Strategic Advisors eliminated 15% of its workforce to cut costs after abandoning talks for a potential partnership deal with Izzy Englander’s Millennium Management, Bloomberg News has reported.
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