Point72 hires Millennium macro PM Whittingham for London team

Point72 Asset Management hired James Whittingham, a senior macro portfolio manager at Millennium Management, to run a new London trading team, according to trade reports citing eFinancialCareers.

Financial Conduct Authority records show Whittingham left Millennium on Oct. 20, according to the reports. He spent six years there running macro investments and 14 years at Goldman Sachs, where he became a managing director in short-term interest rate trading. He is expected to recruit investment professionals for the new team.

If Point72 has guaranteed payments as reported, the platform carries the fixed cost of the buildout, making the size of the commitment to Whittingham’s team a due-diligence question for allocators. HedgeCo News reported that the package may include guaranteed payments and performance incentives, and the terms are unconfirmed.

Whittingham had a difficult year at Millennium, according to the reports, and his performance was not disclosed. HedgeCo News read the hire as a sign that platform firms are weighing pedigree and risk discipline more heavily than a single year's profit and loss.

Millennium reported $720.8 billion in regulatory assets across 35 accounts and 6,670 employees in its Form ADV filed Aug. 25. The hire comes a week after, as Alternatives previously reported, two more credit trading pods were leaving Millennium.