Popkin joined BlueCrest in 2007 and brings experience in business strategy and management, institutional client knowledge and new product development from her time at Financial Risk Management, a large global fund-of-funds, as well as her years at Goldman Sachs where she was in the fixed income sales and trading division.

McConnon brings over 14 years of trading experience including most recently at BlueCrest in the rates team from 2004 to 2007, prior to that from 1999 at Bank of America where he was last running interest rates derivatives proprietary trading, and prior to that at JP Morgan where he was a swaps market maker working with Michael Platt, BlueCrest's co-founder and chief executive.

'This combination of a broad experience of the wider client environment with a first hand knowledge of the traded products of our strategies will provide an enhanced investor experience in terms of our communication and dialogue,' Platt says. 'The co-head role will also allow our investors seamless access to one of the two principals running this part of our business at any time.

'Anne and Pete, both principals in the firm, have already developed a partnership which has been instrumental in starting and expanding our North American business. Anne will split her time between our London and New York offices, while Pete will continue to be based in the New York office.'

BlueCrest Capital Management is an alternative asset management company based in London, managing institutional assets across a number of diversified strategies. It was co-founded in 2000 by Platt who was previously a managing director and senior proprietary trader at JP Morgan. The firm is 25 per cent owned by Man Group Holdings.