Barclays trades with QRT exceed $100B, highlighting hedge fund’s role in prime brokerage

Barclays has racked up more than $100 billion in cumulative trades with Qube Research & Technologies, a figure that says as much about the bank’s prime brokerage ambitions as it does about the quiet ascent of one of the most prolific quantitative hedge funds in the world.

QRT, which manages roughly $38 billion in assets as of March 2025, has become a cornerstone client for Barclays’ prime services division.

From Credit Suisse spinoff to prime brokerage heavyweight

QRT was spun out of Credit Suisse in 2018 with roughly $1 billion in initial capital and a team of about 100 people. Seven years later, it employs somewhere between 1,400 and 2,000 staff and has ballooned its AUM nearly 38-fold.

The firm deploys systematic strategies across equities, foreign exchange, and commodities. Quantitative funds like QRT execute thousands of trades daily, each one guided by algorithms and statistical models, generating enormous transaction flow.

For Barclays, landing QRT as a major client has been a competitive win. The bank climbed to fifth place in prime brokerage fee revenue rankings as of June 2024, up from seventh five years earlier.

The awkward footnote: QRT shorted Barclays stock

In March 2024, QRT disclosed a short position against Barclays shares worth approximately £200 million, representing about 0.73% of the bank’s share capital.

What the $100B figure actually means

The $100 billion is a cumulative trading figure, not assets held or profits generated. Prime brokerage is the infrastructure layer of hedge fund operations. Banks that provide these services earn fees from trade execution, securities lending, margin financing, and custody.

The competitive landscape for prime brokerage shifted considerably after Credit Suisse’s collapse in 2023. When UBS absorbed Credit Suisse, many hedge funds were forced to redistribute their prime brokerage relationships across other banks. Barclays was well-positioned to pick up some of that displaced business, and its existing relationship with QRT, which itself had originally been part of Credit Suisse, gave it a head start.

Goldman Sachs and Morgan Stanley still dominate prime brokerage globally, but Barclays has carved out a meaningful position in the tier just below them, rising to fifth place in fee revenue rankings as of June 2024.