Charlie Chan, a 25-year veteran and former star prop trader at Credit Suisse, where he headed up FX strategic trading, is believed to be readying himself to launch a hedge fund in the New Year. Based in Singapore, Chan, along with four of his prop trading team, will, under the moniker Charlie Chan Capital Partners, run an Asian macro strategy apparently similar to the one he ran at Credit Suisse, who will also be his prime broker. It is unknown at this stage whether the bank will be investing, as details are confidential, although it is believed Chan himself will be putting in his own money. Chan is also in talks with US and European seeding firms to raise capital, and becomes the latest prop trader to go solo. Goldman Sach’s Morgan Tze is also preparing to launch a hedge fund, whilst the likes of Davide Erro’s Turiya Fund have prospered since launching earlier this year. UBS recently confirmed that it had been in talks with “dozens” of prop traders worldwide thinking about setting up funds on the back of Dodd-Frank reforms in the US. The size of Chan’s fund is unknown at this stage but confidential sources speaking to Bloomberg confirmed that its geographic focus would initially be Southeast Asia, China and India. Fixed income, currencies, equities and commodities will be actively traded – the latter enjoying resurgence as prices rise in grains, metals and energy. The news is certainly creating excitement in the industry: Chan is widely considered one of the pioneers of Asian prop trading, his trading skills and annual returns making him one of the region’s top veterans.