Chris Rokos has just hired a Goldman Sachs wunderkind who retired three years ago

A former Goldman Sachs wunderkind, who retired from the bank three years ago aged 40, has just re-emerged at Rokos Capital Management.

Chris Rokos, the former star trader at Brevan Howard who started Rokos Capital Management in 2015 after a successfully contesting a five-year non-compete clause with his former employer, has just hired former Goldman Sachs managing director Ramnek Matharu.

Rokos was one of the biggest hedge fund launches in recent memory, and it’s getting bigger – it has plans to double the number of portfolio managers to 10 in a “gradual expansion” and could eventually manage $15bn, roughly twice the $6.7bn it has in assets under management now.

So far, Matharu is the only recent recruit. He retired from his role at Goldman Sachs in New York in September 2014 after 13 years at the bank. He worked as head of inflation trading during his time at Goldman and held roles across London, Hong Kong, Tokyo and latterly New York. He joined Rokos on 11 May as a partner, according to filings on the Financial Conduct Authority register.

These days Goldman Sachs promotes a wave of youth to managing director, including millennial traders yet to hit their 30s. But Matharu made MD back in 2006 – pre-crisis hay-days when the need for ‘juniorisation’, replacing expensive senior traders with promising youngsters, was not a common thing. This was just eight years after Matharu graduated with a Masters degree in Maths from Cambridge University and five years after he joined Goldman Sachs.

Rokos has a history of hiring from big banks. Its CEO and chief risk officer, Nicholas Howard, was previously head of sales for EMEA at Barclays, while portfolio manager Stuart Riley was formerly co-head of Asia-Pacific macro trading at Goldman Sachs.

Rokos’ hedge fund rose 20% in its first full year of trading in 2016, according to documents seen by Bloomberg, making it one of the best performing macro funds of the year. But has also lost 4.7% in the first quarter of 2017 as most macro funds struggled.

Contact: pclarke@efinancialcareers.com