Key Takeaways
- • Brevan Howard's London-based partnership entity held £18 million available for profit distribution among three partners (Craig Adams, Jonathan Hughes, and Ryan Taylor) for the year ending March 2020, concentrated in legal, compliance, and CFO roles rather than portfolio management.
- • The fund's back-office spinoff, Coremont LLP, distributed £25 million among three partners (Bevan Kaminer, Jev Mehmet, and James Cousins) plus a Jersey entity in the same period, with key management personnel earning £2.8 million in total compensation.
- • Senior portfolio managers and executives including founder Alan Howard, CEO Aron Landy, and traders Fash Golchin and Alfredo Saitta are based in offshore jurisdictions (Geneva, Singapore, Hong Kong, Jersey) where Brevan Howard does not file public accounts, creating substantial opacity around top earner compensation.
- • Non-partner employees at Brevan Howard Services earned significantly less, with 51 staff sharing £7.4 million in 2018 (approximately £145,000 per employee), while graduate-level hiring has offered compensation ranging from £90,000 to £150,000.
- • The fund's 2020 performance was exceptional, with the U.S. Rates Opportunities Fund rising 99% and Golchin's Geneva-based fund gaining 60.5%, yet the disclosed UK partnership pool remained modest relative to overall firm profitability and offshore operations.
Summary
Brevan Howard Asset Management's compensation structure reveals a stark divide between partner profits concentrated in offshore jurisdictions and disclosed UK-based compensation, with the hedge fund's filings offering limited transparency into total fund economics. According to accounts filed for the year ending March 2020, the Mayfair-registered partnership entity held only three partners—Craig Adams (legal), Jonathan Hughes (CFO), and Ryan Taylor (group head of compliance)—who shared £18 million in available profit distributions. This relatively modest partnership pool reflects the firm's structural strategy of locating senior portfolio managers and executives outside the UK regulatory filing regime.
The fund's most senior leadership, including founder Alan Howard, CEO Aron Landy, and prominent traders Fash Golchin and Alfredo Saitta, operate from Geneva, Singapore, Hong Kong, Jersey, and Washington offices where Brevan Howard maintains no public disclosure obligations. This geographic dispersion creates substantial opacity around compensation for the firm's highest-earning professionals. Golchin's Geneva-based fund generated a 60.5% return in 2020, while the U.S. Rates Opportunities Fund soared 99%, yet none of this performance translated into disclosed partner compensation at the London entity.
Coremont LLP, Brevan Howard's back-office operations platform spun out two years prior, operated under a different compensation model, with three individual partners—COO Bevan Kaminer, CEO Jev Mehmet, and lawyer James Cousins—plus a Jersey-related entity sharing £25 million for the year to March 2020. Key management personnel at Coremont received £2.8 million in total compensation. Beyond the partnership tier, non-partner employees at Brevan Howard Services earned substantially less, with 51 staff sharing £7.4 million in 2018, equating to approximately £145,000 per employee. Graduate-level hires have received compensation increases from £90,000 to £150,000, reflecting competitive pressures for junior talent in the London market.
The structure underscores how large multi-jurisdictional hedge funds leverage regulatory arbitrage to concentrate disclosed compensation in ancillary roles while maintaining confidentiality over portfolio manager and executive remuneration in lower-disclosure jurisdictions. For institutional investors evaluating manager alignment and cost structures, Brevan Howard's accounts provide limited insight into true economic profit distribution or the relationship between exceptional 2020 fund performance and partner compensation levels.
The fund's most senior leadership, including founder Alan Howard, CEO Aron Landy, and prominent traders Fash Golchin and Alfredo Saitta, operate from Geneva, Singapore, Hong Kong, Jersey, and Washington offices where Brevan Howard maintains no public disclosure obligations. This geographic dispersion creates substantial opacity around compensation for the firm's highest-earning professionals. Golchin's Geneva-based fund generated a 60.5% return in 2020, while the U.S. Rates Opportunities Fund soared 99%, yet none of this performance translated into disclosed partner compensation at the London entity.
Coremont LLP, Brevan Howard's back-office operations platform spun out two years prior, operated under a different compensation model, with three individual partners—COO Bevan Kaminer, CEO Jev Mehmet, and lawyer James Cousins—plus a Jersey-related entity sharing £25 million for the year to March 2020. Key management personnel at Coremont received £2.8 million in total compensation. Beyond the partnership tier, non-partner employees at Brevan Howard Services earned substantially less, with 51 staff sharing £7.4 million in 2018, equating to approximately £145,000 per employee. Graduate-level hires have received compensation increases from £90,000 to £150,000, reflecting competitive pressures for junior talent in the London market.
The structure underscores how large multi-jurisdictional hedge funds leverage regulatory arbitrage to concentrate disclosed compensation in ancillary roles while maintaining confidentiality over portfolio manager and executive remuneration in lower-disclosure jurisdictions. For institutional investors evaluating manager alignment and cost structures, Brevan Howard's accounts provide limited insight into true economic profit distribution or the relationship between exceptional 2020 fund performance and partner compensation levels.
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