Citi bankers quit to launch FX hedge fund

Citigroup’s former global head of proprietary trading, Patrick Hall, is launching a new macro hedge fund with partners John Banerjee and former Citi economist Michael Burke.

The new fund, Magi Capital Partners, is set for launch in Q3, focusing primarily on forex and fixed income.

Hall, who left Citi mid-March, said the partners plan to achieve a steady positive return from the full array of macro instruments and strategies.

Banerjee, who left his role as head of emerging markets trading at Barclays Capital in London to launch the fund, said: “Optimising a macro view requires the full range of instruments, but we are going to build incrementally on our core areas of expertise.

Burke left Citigroup four years ago. In the interim, he has run his own research company, B&M Research, in London.

Macro hedge funds have been enjoying a wave of success in recent months. Macro funds on the CSFB Tremont Hedge Fund Index were up 18.4% in 2001, against the index’s overall 4.4% return.

That strength is partly because macro players have benefitted from trending markets in interest rates and currencies, Magi’s Burke told RiskNews' sister publication FX Week. “FX as an asset class has moved from the edge of the stage to centre stage, as far as investors are concerned,” said Burke.

Hall, Banerjee and Burke are the latest of several financial markets bankers to cross over into buy-side FX.Late last month treasury sales dealer Tony Kearney at CSFB in London moved to Moore Capital Management. AndLehman Brothers in New York lost global FX options head Renato (Ron) Di Russo to fund manager Deerhurst Management in New Jersey last year.

One of the most successful macro hedge funds, Rubicon, was formed by another former Citibank proprietary trading head, Paul Brewer.