A group of 30 senior bankers from the Societe Generale alternative asset management team have left to start their own hedge fund business, Nexar Capital, backed by US private equity firm Aquiline Partners, according to the Financial Times.

The team includes the head of SocGen’s $12.7 billion global hedge fund business Arié Assayag and several of his most senior colleagues.

Nexar Capital will be headed by Mr Assayag, with Eric Attias, the former chief executive of SocGen’s New York asset management business, as its chief investment officer, the newspaper said.

The new firm will be headquartered in Paris with an office in New York.

The move is being associated by commentators with growing pressures at French banks from the media and the government to cap the remuneration of top employees.

SocGen and BNP Paribas, France’s two biggest investment banks, have undertaken to reduce such payments: golden hellos have already been scrapped.