City Of London

London Quant Pioneer David Harding Gains on Road Back From $27 Billion Plunge

  • The Winton fund soared 17% in best year since financial crisis
  • Firm-wide assets have risen to $10 billion after crashing 80%

David Harding

Photographer: Jason Alden/Bloomberg
Lock
This article is for subscribers only.

The resurgence in volatility that sent markets into a tailspin could not have come soon enough for quant fund pioneer David Harding.

Reeling from losses and an exodus of clients that reached a nadir in 2020, Harding’s hedge funds rode the ferocious macro-driven price trends in global markets last year to emerge as one of the industry’s biggest winners. The multi-strategy Winton fund rose 17% for its best year since 2008, while another fund chasing broader market trends returned 18.7%. Peers tracked by Bloomberg gained 5.5%.