John R. Taylor, the head of what used to be the biggest currency hedge fund in the US, has reappeared on the Forex scene, launching a company named FX Concepts News.
The name of the business entity is, of course, not random, as it preserves what was left after the demise of FX Concepts in the autumn of 2013. It took John R. Taylor – founder, chairman and CEO of the currency hedge fund, only three months after the bankruptcy to announce that he would be back. At that moment, he vowed he would start a service that would concentrate on research after keeping FX Concepts’ newsletter and ‘research process’.
The new company seems to reflect that promise – a report by FX Week says FX Concepts News is a New York-based research and advisory firm. Even more impressively, the firm has already attracted approximately 200 buy-side clients, with fees in the range from $25,000 to $100,000.
The FX Week report goes on to provide some details on the staff of FX Concepts News. Mairi Bryan is at the helm of sales operations, whereas Joseph Palmisano co-writes the newsletter.
FX Concepts boasted the title of the mightiest currency hedge fund in the US, with assets under its management hitting $14 billion in 2007. The fortunes of the company rapidly soured since the start of 2013, as it lost two of its biggest institutional clients – the Pennsylvania Public School Employees’ Retirement System and Bayerische Versorgungskammer pension fund, in February 2013. The outflow of capital continued, with the company losing its final key mandate in September 2013. In October 2013, FX Concepts filed for bankruptcy protection. The fund, which had a 32-year history, ended up with $79 million in liabilities.