(Bloomberg) -- A high volatility environment is great for multi-manager firms like Millennium Management LLC, according to Bobby Jain, co-chief investment officer one of the world’s largest hedge funds.

In times of volatility, “you can get two years worth of trading in one year,” Jain said at the Capitalize for Kids Investors Conference in Toronto on Wednesday. 

Millennium manages more than $58 billion and its flagship fund gained 9.7% this year through September, while the S&P 500 Index has tumbled 22%. The firm has done it in an environment of rising market turbulence: the Cboe Volatility Index, a gauge of market-wide fear, is up nearly 79% this year. 

Asked about the impact of the pandemic on investment firms, Jain said one of the biggest changes has been more staff wanting to work from home. 

“Our business has internationalized dramatically in the last two-and-a-half years” as people moved to be closer to their families, he said, adding that it also presented a new challenge as the firm sorted out regulatory relationships when working out of new countries. 

Battle for Talent

This year, Millennium expanded its emerging markets team in Dubai and is opening two new outposts in tax-friendly Florida. 

In the war for talent, Jain said portfolio managers have become more sophisticated when they consider new roles. Now they’re not just asking how much capital they can manage, he said. They also want to know what the terms of the capital are, how stable the cash is, what the relationship with investors is like and what the process is to scale assets. 

They also value strong risk-management and execution technology and autonomy -- including the right to hire teams as they like. “So we offer those four things,” Jain said referring to assets, fair compensation, resources and autonomy.

Millennium will be returning $15 billion to investors at the end of this year as it continues to bring in longer-term client capital -- a move it has been making for some years. The effort is part of the firm’s view that more stable capital is a key tool in attracting and retaining talent. 

Read more: Millennium Returns $15 Billion, Cementing Move to Long-Term Cash

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