Shin Kobayashi, Head of Japanese Government Bond Trading at Citigroup, has joined $9.9bn multi-strategy hedge fund Verition Fund Management as a Portfolio Manager focusing on yen rates trading, according to a report by Bloomberg.

The report cites unnamed people with knowledge of the matter as confirming that Kobayashi will be part of a Singapore-based investment pod that includes Patrick Bonifant, a former Morgan Stanley managing director who started last year as a Portfolio Manager trading rates of G-10 nations.

Kobayashi is the latest yen rates specialist to move into the hedge fund sector as firms look to tap trading opportunities stemming from the Bank of Japan’s move away from negative interest rates and bond yield-curve controls. According to an earlier Bloomberg report, more than a dozen have left global banks in the past 18 months to join investment firms including Kakyo Okina, ho left his role as a Japanese government bond trader at Mizuho Securities Co to join Alphadyne Asset Management.