Questions about HFs in Switzerland and how to get into one from France

I’ve heard that Switzerland and the Zurich area were most well-known for its HFs (aside from private banking). Yet I understood that working in HF requires an academic background in mathematics. Is a MiF from a French business school (HEC for instance) target for a Swiss HF or would it be a better move to add a master in mathematics from another French school ? If so, which one ? Or is a degree in banking and finance from St Gallen a better option to add to a French business school ?

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Zurich and surrounding has some HFs. Though, I would not say that the area is "known" for being an HF hub. While there might be some more quants based in Zurich due to proximity to ETH, it is a very healthy mix between different types of strategies.

Pod shop offices are mostly for research (i.e., Citadel) or investor relations (i.e., Man). There are some local HFs such as Twelve Capital.

Obviously, St Gallen is the preferred choice for Zurich-based HFs that search for people with a finance background. If you want to become a quant or researcher, do math at ETH.

 
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Here in Switzerland HFs are just a few. There are past threads that list most of the shops you'd find in CH: except for some large platforms (Millennium, Brevan Howard, ...) opportunities are not many. Both Geneva and Zurich have offices of a few HFs, but teams are on average quite small.

If you intend to work in CH, studying finance at St. Gallen or HEC Lausanne or quantitative subjects at ETH or EPFL puts you on a good track. A strong quantitative background is necessary if you intend to pursue a career in quant funds but not necessary for fundamental shops, so first decide what path you want to take.

Overall, if you really want to work for a HF, studying in London is probably still the best way to go in Europe. Most of the shops are still there and London offers great business schools from which many HFs recruit.

 

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