The Financial Conduct Authority reportedly won’t allow hedge fund manager Steven Cohen to raise money from investors in the U.K., blocking him soon after U.S. regulators lifted their ban on his managing outside capital.
The FCA is refusing Cohen’s request to open Point72 Asset Management to U.K. clients after the firm resubmitted its application with the regulator this year, according to a Financial Times report citing people familiar with the matter. Spokespeople for Point72 and the FCA declined to comment.
The U.S. Securities and Exchange Commission had barred Cohen from managing outside money for two years over insider trading charges against his former hedge fund firm, SAC Capital. Cohen started Point72 as a family office for his personal fortune, and after the ban ended in January, he began seeking billions of dollars from investors for a new fund.
Cohen’s comeback as a hedge fund manager has hit an impasse overseas because the FCA ruled he was not “fit and proper” to reopen to U.K. investors, the FT reported, citing an anonymous person.
In 2013, the SEC announced charges against Cohen for failing to supervise and prevent SAC portfolio managers from insider trading. The regulatory ban on managing outside capital began in January 2016.
More recently, Cohen has faced allegations of gender discrimination at Point72.
[II Deep Dive: Steve Cohen’s Point72 Discriminated Against Women, Lawsuit Claims]
In February, Lauren Bonner, an associate director at the firm, filed a lawsuit claiming male executives “subject their female subordinates to abhorrent bias.” She alleged a culture of sexual harassment as well as one where women were paid less and kept out of leadership roles. Cohen has asked a U.S. federal court judge to dismiss the suit, with Point72’s attorney filing a motion for Bonner to settle her claims through out-of-court arbitration.
Point72 has about $12 billion of assets under management and 8 offices globally, according to its website.
