REPORT: Billionaire Steve Cohen is facing a UK regulatory hurdle

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LONDON – A fund set up to manage the wealth of Steve Cohen, the billionaire who ran one of Wall Street’s most infamous hedge funds, is facing a regulatory struggle in the UK, the Financial Times reported.

Point72, which Cohen set up in 2014 to manage around $11 billion of personal wealth, has been notified by the Financial Conduct Authority that it intends to reject an application for regulatory approval, the FT’s Lindsay Fortado and John Gapper said.

While family offices can operate without approval in the UK, they must seek special authorisations from the FCA to manage the assets of other clients.

Around 1,100 people work at Point72, which has its headquarters in Stamford, Connecticut. Point72 and the FCA declined to comment.

The US Securities and Exchange Commission in 2013 barred the firm that made Cohen’s name as an investor, SAC Capital, from managing outside money after it pleaded guilty to insider trading. Cohen wasn’t personally charged. That ban lifts in 2018, following asettlement that ended charges that Cohen hadn’t properly supervised a portfolio manager, Mathew Martoma, who had engaged in the insider trading.

Cohen is reportedly planning to launch anew fund, reportedly with a goal of managing as much as $20 billion.