Advertisement

We need your help now

Support from readers like you keeps The Journal open.

You are visiting us because we have something you value. Independent, unbiased news that tells the truth. Advertising revenue goes some way to support our mission, but this year it has not been enough.

If you've seen value in our reporting, please contribute what you can, so we can continue to produce accurate and meaningful journalism. For everyone who needs it.

Opals-On-Black.com via Flickr
Oww

Barclays spent €35m poaching a trader... and now he's leaving

What’s that saying about ‘what goes around comes around’?

A STAR COMMODITY trader who once made $100m in a single year – single-handedly – is once again making waves in the financial world.

Todd Edgar and his team of fellow proprietary traders are leaving Barclays Capital after being poached from a rival firm to start a new hedge fund, This Is London reports.

The details for why he’s leaving the bank are unclear, but Barclay’s can’t be too pleased by this move.

Edgar first moved to BarCap in 2009 after he and his team were poached from JPMorgan.  BarCap reportedly paid Edgar and his team a £30m (€35m) cash and shares package - causing JPMorgan to complain to the UK’s Financial Services Authority.

Not surprisingly, JPMorgan was not happy about Edgar being poached. One reason being that in 2008 Edgar reportedly brought in $100 million profit for the bank – all on his own.

Edgar, who is said to be an avid surfer, is used to riding the unpredictable gold market, which paid off for him big time while at JPMorgan.

Trader Monthly – a lifestyle magazine that closed in 2009 – gave Edgar its “Commodities Trade of the Year” award in 2007.  He was given the award for a “Fort Knox-sized heist” on the gold market when he was a managing director at JPMorgan.

He was only 35 at the time, but he apparently has guts.

“To have the cojones to stick with a trade like that in a year when everyone is selling is unbelievable,” said a fellow commodities trader.

Edgar studied at the University of New South Wales. His favorite surfing spot is in the Mentawai Islands west of Sumatra, Indonesia.

Published with permission from
Business Insider