Key Takeaways
- • Oliver Brennan, an FX strategist at Brevan Howard with a physics background and prior teaching experience, has departed the hedge fund, marking another senior-level exit in recent months.
- • Brevan Howard has experienced significant personnel losses across portfolio management and trading roles, including Roberto Hoornweg (to Standard Chartered in December), Paul Ellis (former yen trading chief), and Mark Deniston (to Royal Bank of Scotland in January), signaling organizational restructuring focused on macro-focused positions.
- • The fund experienced substantial asset outflows of $7 billion during 2016, reducing assets under management to $15.6 billion by year-end, with a November share buyback offer in its BH Macro Limited fund attracting 48% investor participation to avoid forced wind-down.
- • Brevan Howard's recruitment profile remains anchored to highly quantitative talent from elite institutions, though recent departures suggest potential strategic reorientation away from certain macro-focused trading operations.
Summary
Oliver Brennan's departure from Brevan Howard as an FX strategist marks the latest in a series of senior exits from the London-based macro hedge fund. Brennan, who holds a Master's degree in Physics from Oxford, initially pursued teaching at Dr Challoner's Grammar School in Buckinghamshire for two years before joining Brevan Howard in 2007—a career arc unusual in financial services but aligned with the firm's historical focus on quantitative talent from top-tier universities.
Brennan's tenure at Brevan Howard was interrupted by external moves: he joined State Street Global Investors in 2011, spent less than a year there, moved to Tudor Investment Corporation in February 2012, and returned to Brevan Howard by August 2012 before departing again in late February 2017. His exit is part of a broader pattern of senior personnel departures from the firm. Roberto Hoornweg, former head of securities distribution at UBS and a Brevan Howard employee since 2012, joined Standard Chartered in December 2016. Paul Ellis, a former yen trading chief at Credit Suisse hired in 2012, has also departed. Additionally, Mark Deniston, formerly head of sterling rates swaps at Goldman Sachs and a 2013 joiner, left in January 2017 to lead GBP rates trading at Royal Bank of Scotland.
The exits reflect a broader contraction at Brevan Howard. The firm experienced $7 billion in asset withdrawals during 2016, reducing assets under management to $15.6 billion by December 31, 2016. In November 2016, the firm offered to buy back shares in its BH Macro Limited fund to prevent forced liquidation; 48% of investors accepted the offer. These departures and asset outflows suggest Brevan Howard is recalibrating its macro-focused trading operations and workforce structure during a period of industry-wide performance pressure.
Brennan's tenure at Brevan Howard was interrupted by external moves: he joined State Street Global Investors in 2011, spent less than a year there, moved to Tudor Investment Corporation in February 2012, and returned to Brevan Howard by August 2012 before departing again in late February 2017. His exit is part of a broader pattern of senior personnel departures from the firm. Roberto Hoornweg, former head of securities distribution at UBS and a Brevan Howard employee since 2012, joined Standard Chartered in December 2016. Paul Ellis, a former yen trading chief at Credit Suisse hired in 2012, has also departed. Additionally, Mark Deniston, formerly head of sterling rates swaps at Goldman Sachs and a 2013 joiner, left in January 2017 to lead GBP rates trading at Royal Bank of Scotland.
The exits reflect a broader contraction at Brevan Howard. The firm experienced $7 billion in asset withdrawals during 2016, reducing assets under management to $15.6 billion by December 31, 2016. In November 2016, the firm offered to buy back shares in its BH Macro Limited fund to prevent forced liquidation; 48% of investors accepted the offer. These departures and asset outflows suggest Brevan Howard is recalibrating its macro-focused trading operations and workforce structure during a period of industry-wide performance pressure.
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