Barclays’ trading ties with QRT top $100bn

Barclays has expanded its trading relationship with Qube Research & Technologies to more than $100bn in gross notional positions handled through the bank. The $100bn-plus figure is the face value of positions before offsets and does not represent the bank’s economic exposure. Barclays reported its net exposure is substantially smaller after offsetting positions, netting arrangements, collateral and other risk controls.

Qube Research & Technologies, known as QRT, is a London-based multi-strategy hedge fund that manages about $55bn in assets. The firm uses a network of counterparties for its trading and maintains prime brokerage relationships with roughly 15 banks for equities and about 30 banks for fixed-income repurchase agreements. Other prime brokers for QRT include JPMorgan, Goldman Sachs, Morgan Stanley and UBS.

QRT emerged from Credit Suisse in 2018 through a management buyout involving about 100 employees. The firm combines quantitative models with discretionary trading. In its most recent public filing in March, QRT reported regulatory assets of about $575bn, nearly 65% higher than two years earlier.

Prime brokerage services typically include trade execution, financing and clearing. Gross notional is a common way to show the raw size of positions before netting, collateral and offsetting trades reduce actual counterparty exposure.