Qube Research & Technologies

Qube Research & Technologies (QRT) is a global quantitative investment management firm headquartered in London with additional offices in Europe and Asia.

Background
In late 2016, the Qube Fund was formed and managed by Credit Suisse's Quantitative and Systematic Asset Management unit in London. The fund used computer models to trade stocks and was staffed by proprietary traders. In 2017, it was announced that the fund would be spun off from Credit Suisse due to regulations like the Volcker Rule which restricted banks from performing proprietary trading activities. In 2018, its management team led a management buyout resulting in the unit to become an independent entity and was renamed to Qube Research & Technologies.

According to accounts released by QRT in 2017, it had 87 employees and paid them an average of £323,000 while in 2018, it had 92 employees and paid them an average of  £257,000 which was a decline of 21%. At the same time, its costs of data and technology rose 30%, from £19 million to £25 million. In 2022, it paid £272 million in wages and related benefits to 343 employees.

In February 2023, QRT stated it planned to hand over some of its capital to be managed by external parties.

On 17 November 2023, according to a FCA filing, QRT had taken a £670 million short position against HSBC. It occurred after HSBC reported a decline in Q3 profit and the position equated to 0.57% of HSBC's market capitalisation making it one of the biggest short positions against a big four UK bank. However QRT later stated that the FCA filing was made erroneously due to a technical issue and it held no short position against HSBC.

QRT 's two largest funds posted returns over 20% for the year 2022. In 2023, its largest fund also had a return over 20%.

In January 2024, QRT disclosed it had taken a short position of more than $1 billion against German companies. Its largest short positions were on Volkswagen, Rheinmetall, Siemens Energy and Deutsche Bank.

In March 2024, QRT disclosed it had built a short position of £200 million on Barclays. It equated to 0.73% of Barclay's issued share capital making it the largest disclosed short position against the bank in history.