Where Are The Biggest Hedge Fund Communities Around the World?

New York is number-one. Where are the rest?

“If we’re talking U.S., the next one is Connecticut, either Greenwich or Stamford,” said Mitch Ackles, President of the Hedge Fund Association and CEO of Hedge Fund PR. “Then you probably go to San Francisco and Dallas.”

From there, job seekers will find a number of hedge funds in Atlanta, Denver, Los Angeles, and Florida.

“Some hedge funds have been making their way down south because there are more attractive taxes in some other places,” said Ackles. “But the bigger ones, the ones that want to get bigger, and the ones that really want access to money — they tend to be in certain places.

“Obviously London is in the top three. New York is clearly number one. But number two could be either London or Connecticut. One keeps claiming to be bigger than the other in terms of hedge fund population. But London is the other one. And then you’ve got other European countries, obviously. Cayman Islands, as well. In Switzerland you’ve got a couple of cities. In Germany, places like Frankfurt.”

Looking ahead, Ackles said that the Hedge Fund Association is paying close attention to China. “Their rules are not finalized yet, but they’re about to enable hedge funds to do business more freely with everyone else,” he said. “When specific rules that are in place are going to get rolled out, HFA has a press release that is ready to go. We have a chapter leader in Shanghai and one in Beijing already, so we see China as an opportunity. Singapore is very popular. And obviously places like Tokyo and Hong Kong.”

Elsewhere in the world, job seekers will find hedge funds all over Latin America, especially in Brazil. “You’ve got Chile, Columbia, Argentina, Peru, and Panama.”

With regard to traders who are seeking work, Ackles said that he would recommend that they look to hedge funds for employment instead of a bank, “Just because of the evolution of what’s happening.”

“I do think there’s still room for them,” he said. “They do have to be talented. They have to have great references. They have to have some type of background that’s suitable for the strategy that the hedge fund has. But it is very difficult to get those jobs by just cold calling a hiring manager or cold calling a manager. I found, most effective, is really who you know. It’s going through people who are willing to refer you to people they know, or some specialist website that offers that type of matchmaking. But it’s not Monster.com.”

That begs the question: would StreetID be an appropriate avenue?

“I think it’s a fit,” said Ackles. “All of Wall Street, it’s the same ecosystem. A talented trader who’s interested in a specific style strategy stock sector is the same type of person with pedigree that’s attractive to a hedge fund. As long as that person is clear with, for example, StreetID, and says, ‘I’m looking for this geography for a job and I’m looking for this type of a firm to work for,” I think StreetID would be very capable of doing that type of matchmaking.”

Get Hired Now

These days, job seekers have a million options, but we know where they should turn: StreetID. We built StreetID (a financial career matchmaking website) from the ground up to accommodate Wall Street’s growing community of financial professionals. In good times and in bad, current job seekers and those looking to move on in the future can turn to StreetID and sign up for a free account and make a direct connection with relevant candidates and employers.

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