Chris Rokos' hedge fund has just hired a senior Barclays trader in London push
Chris Rokos’ hedge fund is on a roll. Following a promise to double headcount in London, Rokos Capital Management has just hired another senior investment bank trader.
Omar Gzouli, a former managing director at Barclays investment bank who held various senior roles in equity derivatives at the bank in New York, has just joined Rokos Capital Management in London as a partner, according to the Financial Conduct Authority register.
Gzouli is representative of the sort of senior hires that are being brought into Rokos as it expands. He was previously head of U.S. exotics trading for the Americas at Barclays, as well as leading its equity and funds structured markets (EFS) trading business in the region. He joined the bank as part of its acquisition of Lehman Brothers’ U.S. business in 2008.
He’s the second senior hire at Rokos this month. As we reported earlier, Ramnek Matharu, a former Goldman Sachs’ equities trader who made managing director at 31 in 2006 and retired from the bank before his 40th birthday three years ago. Again, he was based out of New York.
Chris Rokos is the former star trader at Brevan Howard, who started Rokos Capital Management in 2015 after successfully contesting a high-profile non-compete dispute with his former employer that would have stopped him working in a hedge fund role for five years. Headcount has steadily grown over that period of time, but so-far this year it’s added five new investment staff and now has 25 people registered with the FCA.
Rokos initially recruited a number of quantitative and technical staff to get the fund off the ground, but has now turned its attention to hiring portfolio managers. It’s planning to double the number of portfolio managers from five to 10 in a “gradual expansion” and could increase assets under management from its current $6.7bn to $15bn.
Contact: pclarke@efinancialcareers.com
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