JPMorgan's Tse, Ex-Duquesne, To Launch Hedge Fund

A top JPMorgan Chase executive is leaving the bank to return to the hedge fund industry.

Irene Tse plans to launch her own hedge fund early next year, Bloomberg News reports. She joined JPMorgan less than two years ago as chief investment officer for North America after three years at Duquense Capital Management, which closed its doors in 2010.

Tse was part of JPMorgan's abortive effort to boost returns by increasing risk, an effort that collapsed earlier this year when a trader on Tse's European counterpart's team cost the bank billions on credit derivatives. It is unclear when she will leave; an internal memorandum simply said she was leaving "to focus on external entrepreneurial ventures."

"Irene will work with Craig Delaney"—named head of Tse's group last month—"to ensure a smooth transition," Mathew Zames, co-chief operating officer, said. "She has worked closely with us over the past several months to refocus CIO back to its core mandate of conservative investing as we strengthened our risk management and controls."

Tse's new hedge fund will employ a global macro strategy. At Duquense, Tse traded mortgage-backed securities, interest rates, foreign exchange, stocks, bonds, commodities and other structured products.

Prior to joining Duquesne, Tse spent 14 years at Goldman Sachs, rising to co-head of U.S. rates trading.