Brevan Howard founder quits London for Geneva

London was dealt a blow as it emerged star hedge fund manager Alan Howard has decided to pack his bags and move to Switzerland.

The co-founder of Brevan Howard Asset Management has decided to move on just a week after last week's emergency Budget.

It also comes after a number of hedge fund managers threatened to quit the UK in anger at the 50% income tax levied on the wealthy.  

Earlier this year Brevan Howard rented office space in Geneva and expects seven of its team to have relocated from London by the end of the year.  

More hedge fund managers and firms are tipped to follow Howard out of the UK. This trend was set by rival firm BlueCrest Capital Management in April, which moved its head office to Guernsey and opened a Geneva office which could see 70 of its traders make the switch from London. 

They have been joined by BlueCrest co-founder Michael Platt and Leda Braga, manager of the BlueTrend fund.

In a statement posted on the London Stock Exchange, Brevan Howard said Alan Howard would continue to fulfil all his duties from Geneva. It added that his capital allocation and risk limits, as well as his wider responsibilities in relation to the BH Macro fund remained unchanged.