The business, which is currently structured as a family office, has reportedly been told it will not get regulatory clearance in the UK to take external money.

Point72 Asset Management, the family office set up about three years ago by high-profile US hedge fund tycoon Steven Cohen as part of a settlement with regulators, is facing a struggle to win acceptance from the UK’s financial watchdog, according to the Financial Times.

The newspaper said that the firm has been told by the Financial Conduct Authority that it plans to reject a bid for regulatory approval. 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 declined to comment to this news service. The FT report said the FCA declined to comment.

The business has also been going through an extensive process to improve its compliance processes, with a possible view to being able to take on board external clients’ money at some stage, possibly as early as 2018 following a settlement with authorities in the US.  Cohen’s old firm, SAC Capital Advisors, no longer takes in external client money as part of a deal with US regulators concerning shortcomings at SAC. That old firm is now running down legacy client business, while the money of Cohen’s family is held in Point72. This publication interviewed the firm about its actions here.

A number of US-based hedge fund firms transformed into family offices in recent years, shutting doors to external money, to avoid falling under the regulatory oversight of the US Securities and Exchange Commission. One of the most prominent such movers was George Soros.