Barclays QRT trades have risen above $100 billion in notional value, Bloomberg reported, citing people familiar with the matter. The figure highlights the scale of the bank’s business with Qube Research & Technologies, known as QRT. It also shows QRT’s weight in Barclays’ prime brokerage arm.
The reported total reflects the gross face value of positions between the two firms. However, it does not subtract offsetting trades. Bloomberg said QRT ranks among Barclays’ biggest prime brokerage clients.
Barclays QRT Trades and Prime Brokerage Growth
Barclays moved up in prime brokerage fee revenue rankings to fifth place as of June 2024. Five years earlier, the bank held seventh place. Bloomberg said stronger business with clients such as QRT helped that rise.
Competition in prime brokerage has also increased. That shift followed UBS’s takeover of Credit Suisse in 2023, which pushed many hedge funds to spread their prime brokerage ties across more banks. As a result, banks have competed harder for hedge fund business.
QRT Expands Across Bank Relationships
QRT spun out of Credit Suisse in 2018 with about $1 billion in seed capital. Since then, the London-based firm has grown into a major quantitative hedge fund. Bloomberg said QRT now manages an estimated $38 billion in assets and employs between 1,400 and 2,000 people.
Along with Barclays, QRT has prime brokerage relationships with JPMorgan, Goldman Sachs, Morgan Stanley and UBS. It also banks with 15 firms for equities and 30 for fixed-income repo, according to regulatory filings cited in the report. Meanwhile, QRT disclosed a short position in Barclays shares worth about 200 million pounds in March 2024.
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Source: LeapRate
