Arie Assayag, head of SG Asset Management’s alternative investments business, left in April, taking 15 of Société Générale’s staff with him to set up a new hedge fund, Premium Asset Management, joining dozens of other bank employees that have this year left to join hedge funds or start up their own. Boaz Weinstein, Deutsche Bank’s co-head of global credit trading, announced his plans to leave the bank and set up a hedge fund with 35 Deutsche Bank staff back in January. The German bank’s quantitative trading group, Equitech, has also left to set up independent quant hedge fund Roc Group. Citadel, DE Shaw, Artradis and Tosca Fund are among many hedge funds attracting senior management from banks.
Star traders
Star traders are also among those to be leaving large well-established financial companies for hedge funds. Hakan Kocayusufpasaoglu, Credit Suisse’s derivatives trading director, left to start a macro hedge fund a few months ago. In April, Fabrizio Gallo, who ran Morgan Stanley’s proprietary trading desk, left, saying that he wanted "to spend more time with his family". It is expected that Gallo might pop up at a hedge fund, or possibly start up his own.
