This top strategist has just departed Brevan Howard

Alan Howard may be returning to Brevan Howard’s London operation and Brevan Howard may just have brought in a very senior bond trader in London in the form of Goldman Sachs’ Andrea Casulli, but the hedge fund is still losing staff in London.

The latest exit is Viktor Hjort, a strategist who joined the hedge fund from Morgan Stanley in July 2015. He left Brevan Howard earlier this month, according to the Financial Conduct Authority register.

Before joining Brevan, Hjort was head of Asia fixed income research and credit strategy at Morgan Stanley in Hong Kong. He worked at the bank for over 15 years in both the UK and Asia, and was named managing director in 2012. He returned to London two years ago to join Brevan Howard.

Brevan Howard has endured a tough period this year. Around $1bn left its flagship fund in April, and performance in its macro fund was down 5.2% over the course of the first half, according to reports on Bloomberg.

Senior staff at the hedge fund have departed over the past year. Andrew Dausch, a former Goldman Sachs prop trader who joined Brevan Howard in 2011, left for Moore Capital Management in April. Mark Deniston, the former head of GBP rates trading at Goldman, joined Brevan Howard in 2013, but departed for Royal Bank of Scotland in January, while partner Roberto Hoornweg left late last year to head up Standard Chartered’s financial markets division.

Brevan Howard’s latest accounts show that it has been cutting back staff – it had 178 employees in 2015, but reduced headcount to 122 by the end of March last year.

Despite this, it’s still been bringing in senior people. Duncan Larraz, who was head of quant analytics at asset management firm Tages Capital, joined Brevan Howard as a strategist in June. More recently, Andrea Casulli, the former co-head of government bond trading at Goldman Sachs, joined the hedge fund earlier this month.

Contact: pclarke@efinancialcareers.com

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