Barclays has expanded the scale of its trading relationship with Qube Research & Technologies to more than $100bn in gross notional positions, underscoring the growing importance of the multi-strategy hedge fund to the bank’s prime brokerage operation, according to a report by Bloomberg.
The London-based hedge fund, better known as QRT, is now one of Barclays’ largest prime brokerage clients, according to people familiar with the relationship.
The $100bn-plus figure represents the gross face value of QRT’s positions handled through Barclays before offsetting trades are taken into account. It therefore does not represent the bank’s actual economic exposure.
Barclays said its net exposure is significantly lower after accounting for offsetting positions, netting arrangements, collateral and other risk controls.
QRT, which manages around $55bn, uses a network of banks to support its trading activities. The firm has relationships with about 15 banks for equities and roughly 30 for fixed-income repurchase agreements, according to a person familiar with its operations.
JPMorgan, Goldman Sachs, Morgan Stanley and UBS are among its other prime brokers.
QRT has grown rapidly since emerging from Credit Suisse in 2018 through a management buyout involving around 100 employees.
The firm has since developed into a large multi-strategy hedge fund with both quantitative and discretionary trading capabilities.
Its regulatory assets have risen sharply alongside that expansion to approximately $575bn according two a its latest public disclosure in March, almost 65% higher than two years earlier.
