Archegos Capital
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Archegos Capital Management was a
limited partnership A limited partnership (LP) is a type of partnership with general partners, who have a right to manage the business, and limited partners, who have no right to manage the business but have only limited liability for its debts. Limited partnership ...
family office A family office is a privately held company that handles investment management and wealth management for a wealthy family, generally one with at least $50–100 million in investable assets, with the goal being to effectively grow and transfer ...
that managed the personal assets of
Bill Hwang Sung Kook Hwang (), also known as Bill Hwang, is a South Korean-born American investor, trader and convicted fraudster. He ran Archegos Capital Management, whose default on March 26, 2021 caused major losses to several notable investment b ...
, at one time managing over $36 billion in assets. On April 27, 2022, Hwang was indicted and arrested on federal charges of fraud and racketeering. On March 26, 2021, Archegos defaulted on
margin call ''Margin Call'' is a 2011 American drama film written and directed by J. C. Chandor in his feature directorial debut. The principal story takes place over a 24-hour period at a large Wall Street investment bank during the initial stages of the ...
s from several global
investment banks Investment banking is an advisory-based financial service for institutional investors, corporations, governments, and similar clients. Traditionally associated with corporate finance, such a bank might assist in raising financial capital by und ...
, including
Credit Suisse Credit Suisse Group AG (, ) was a global Investment banking, investment bank and financial services firm founded and based in Switzerland. According to UBS, eventually Credit Suisse was to be fully integrated into UBS. While the integration ...
and
Nomura Holdings is a financial holding company and a principal member of the Nomura Group, which is Japan's largest List of investment banks#Largest full-service investment banks#Bulge Bracket#Membership, investment bank and Broker-dealer#Japan, brokerage group. ...
, as well as
Goldman Sachs The Goldman Sachs Group, Inc. ( ) is an American multinational investment bank and financial services company. Founded in 1869, Goldman Sachs is headquartered in Lower Manhattan in New York City, with regional headquarters in many internationa ...
and
Morgan Stanley Morgan Stanley is an American multinational investment bank and financial services company headquartered at 1585 Broadway in Midtown Manhattan, New York City. With offices in 42 countries and more than 80,000 employees, the firm's clients in ...
. The firm had large, concentrated positions in
ViacomCBS Paramount Global (Trade name, d/b/a Paramount) is an American multinational mass media and entertainment Conglomerate (company), conglomerate controlled by National Amusements and Headquarters, headquartered at One Astor Plaza in Times Square, ...
,
Baidu Baidu, Inc. ( ; ) is a Chinese multinational technology company specializing in Internet services and artificial intelligence. It holds a dominant position in China's search engine market (via Baidu Search), and provides a wide variety of o ...
, Vipshop,
Farfetch Farfetch is a British e-commerce company focused on luxury clothing and beauty products. It operates as a digital marketplace that sells products from several hundred brands, boutiques and department stores from around the world. In January 2024 ...
, and other companies, and the firm's use of
total return swap In finance, a total return swap (TRS), total rate of return swap (TRORS), or cash-settled equity swap is a financial contract that transfers both the credit risk and market risk of an underlying asset. Contract definition A swap agreement in ...
s had helped to hide its high exposure from lending banks. Its derivative contracts "exposed the firm to severe losses when the trades went bad." The ''
Wall Street Journal ''The Wall Street Journal'' (''WSJ''), also referred to simply as the ''Journal,'' is an American newspaper based in New York City. The newspaper provides extensive coverage of news, especially business and finance. It operates on a subscriptio ...
'' reported that Hwang lost $8billion in 10 days, while
Bloomberg News Bloomberg News (originally Bloomberg Business News) is an international news agency headquartered in New York City and a division of Bloomberg L.P. Content produced by Bloomberg News is disseminated through Bloomberg Terminals, Bloomberg T ...
reported that Hwang lost $20billion in 2 days. The fate of Archegos has been compared to the meltdown caused by
Long Term Capital Management Long-Term Capital Management L.P. (LTCM) was a highly leveraged hedge fund. In 1998, it received a $3.6 billion bailout from a group of 14 banks, in a deal brokered and put together by the Federal Reserve Bank of New York. LTCM was founded in 1 ...
.


History

Formerly of Tiger Cub fund Tiger Asia Management, Hwang created the Archegos
family office A family office is a privately held company that handles investment management and wealth management for a wealthy family, generally one with at least $50–100 million in investable assets, with the goal being to effectively grow and transfer ...
in 2013, with $10 billion under management as of 2020. Its name is
Greek Greek may refer to: Anything of, from, or related to Greece, a country in Southern Europe: *Greeks, an ethnic group *Greek language, a branch of the Indo-European language family **Proto-Greek language, the assumed last common ancestor of all kno ...
for "leader."Wiktionary
/ref> Tiger Asia Management had previously pleaded guilty to
insider trading Insider trading is the trading of a public company's stock or other securities (such as bonds or stock options) based on material, nonpublic information about the company. In various countries, some kinds of trading based on insider informati ...
of Chinese bank stocks in 2012 and paid a $44 million fine. In 2014, Hwang "was banned from trading in Hong Kong for four years." Archegos' holdings were primarily in the form of total return swaps, a financial instrument where the underlying securities (stocks) are held by banks. This meant that Archegos did not need to disclose its large holdings, while if it had transacted in regular stocks it would have had to. The fund was also heavily
leveraged In finance, leverage, also known as gearing, is any technique involving borrowing funds to buy an investment. Financial leverage is named after a lever in physics, which amplifies a small input force into a greater output force. Financial leverag ...
and did business with multiple banks which were likely unaware of Archegos' large positions held by other banks.


March 2021 losses

On March 26, 2021, banks offering
prime brokerage Prime brokerage is the generic term for a bundled package of services offered by investment banks, wealth management firms, and securities dealers to hedge funds which need the ability to borrow securities and cash in order to be able to inves ...
services to Archegos started to liquidate billions of dollars' worth of various
stock Stocks (also capital stock, or sometimes interchangeably, shares) consist of all the Share (finance), shares by which ownership of a corporation or company is divided. A single share of the stock means fractional ownership of the corporatio ...
s after it had failed to meet a margin call. The stocks were reportedly tied to the total return swaps held by Archegos. This sale was reported to be the cause of a 27% plunge in share price of
ViacomCBS Paramount Global (Trade name, d/b/a Paramount) is an American multinational mass media and entertainment Conglomerate (company), conglomerate controlled by National Amusements and Headquarters, headquartered at One Astor Plaza in Times Square, ...
and a similar fall in the price of
Discovery, Inc. Discovery, Inc. was an American multinational mass media factual television conglomerate based in New York City. Established in 1982, the company operated a group of factual and lifestyle television brands, such as the namesake Discovery Chan ...
On March 29, the share price of Credit Suisse was down by 14%, while Nomura Holdings shares declined by 16%. A press release from Credit Suisse said that "the loss resulting from this exit... could be highly significant and material to our first quarter results." According to ''The'' ''Wall Street Journal'', Goldman Sachs and Morgan Stanley were able to limit their losses relating to Archegos by acting more quickly than Credit Suisse and Nomura Holdings. Other banks, such as
Deutsche Bank Deutsche Bank AG (, ) is a Germany, German multinational Investment banking, investment bank and financial services company headquartered in Frankfurt, Germany, and dual-listed on the Frankfurt Stock Exchange and the New York Stock Exchange. ...
, were able to close their substantial positions quickly and avoid any losses. On March 30,
Mitsubishi UFJ Financial Group is a Japanese bank holding and financial services company headquartered in Chiyoda, Tokyo, Japan. MUFG was created in 2005 by merger between and UFJ Holdings (株式会社UFJホールディングス; ''kabushikigaisha yūefujei hōrudingusu'' ...
(MUFG) securities arm declared a $300 million loss in its
EMEA Europe, the Middle East and Africa, commonly known by its acronym EMEA among the North American business spheres, is a geographical region used by institutions, governments and global spheres of marketing, media and business when referring to t ...
operations linked to Archegos.
Baidu Baidu, Inc. ( ; ) is a Chinese multinational technology company specializing in Internet services and artificial intelligence. It holds a dominant position in China's search engine market (via Baidu Search), and provides a wide variety of o ...
was added to the list of affected stocks. Also on March 30, the
Securities and Exchange Commission The United States Securities and Exchange Commission (SEC) is an independent agency of the United States federal government, created in the aftermath of the Wall Street crash of 1929. Its primary purpose is to enforce laws against market m ...
stated it was conducting an investigation into the matter. The demise of Archegos helped drag the
Nikkei 225 The Nikkei 225, or , more commonly called the ''Nikkei'' or the ''Nikkei index'' (), is a stock market index for the Tokyo Stock Exchange (TSE). It is a price-weighted index, operating in the Japanese yen, Japanese Yen (JP¥), and its compone ...
Index down by 0.77% on March 30, 2021, triggering a worldwide sell-off in banking stocks. On April 5, 2021, the Chair of the US
Senate banking committee The United States Senate Committee on Banking, Housing, and Urban Affairs (formerly the Committee on Banking and Currency), also known as the Senate Banking Committee, has jurisdiction over matters related to banks and banking, price controls, ...
,
Sherrod Brown Sherrod Campbell Brown ( ; born November 9, 1952) is an American politician who served from 2007 to 2025 as a United States senator from Ohio. A member of the Democratic Party, he was the U.S. representative for from 1993 to 2007 and the 47t ...
, wrote to Crystal Lalime,
general counsel A general counsel, also known as chief counsel or chief legal officer (CLO), is the chief in-house lawyer for a company or a governmental department. In a company, the person holding the position typically reports directly to the CEO, and their ...
at Credit Suisse, as well as Nomura, Goldman Sachs and Morgan Stanley to inquire about "the implosion of Archegos Capital" and gave the lenders 14 days to reply. Credit Suisse was mentioned by the ''
Financial Times The ''Financial Times'' (''FT'') is a British daily newspaper printed in broadsheet and also published digitally that focuses on business and economic Current affairs (news format), current affairs. Based in London, the paper is owned by a Jap ...
'' as "allowing the family office (of Hwang) to make highly leveraged bets on US and Chinese stocks". The
Securities Exchange Commission The United States Securities and Exchange Commission (SEC) is an independent agency of the United States federal government, created in the aftermath of the Wall Street crash of 1929. Its primary purpose is to enforce laws against market ma ...
and the
Financial Conduct Authority The Financial Conduct Authority (FCA) is a financial regulatory body in the United Kingdom. It operates independently of the UK Government and is financed by charging fees to members of the financial services industry. The FCA regulates financi ...
also have requested information about the implosion from the lenders, as well as the
NGO A non-governmental organization (NGO) is an independent, typically nonprofit organization that operates outside government control, though it may get a significant percentage of its funding from government or corporate sources. NGOs often focus ...
Self-regulatory organization Self-regulation may refer to: *Emotional self-regulation *Self-control, in sociology/psychology *Self-regulated learning, in educational psychology *Self-regulation theory (SRT), a system of conscious personal management *Industry self-regulation, ...
Finra The Financial Industry Regulatory Authority (FINRA) is a private American corporation that acts as a self-regulatory organization (SRO) that financial regulation, regulates member brokerage firms and exchange (organized market), exchange markets. ...
. On April 6, 2021, Credit Suisse reported losses of $4.7 billion linked to its involvement with Archegos. The bank's chief risk and compliance officer, and head of the investment bank were reported to have departed as a result of the losses caused by Archegos and Greensill crises. Later, the bank announced that it would have to raise up to $2 billion in fresh capital to support its equity base. Reported losses increased to $5.5 billion in late April on a notional exposure of over $20 billion, or more than half of the bank's capital at the time. On April 16, 2021,
Morgan Stanley Morgan Stanley is an American multinational investment bank and financial services company headquartered at 1585 Broadway in Midtown Manhattan, New York City. With offices in 42 countries and more than 80,000 employees, the firm's clients in ...
reported a loss of nearly $1 billion related to the Archegos collapse, $644 million by selling stocks it held related to Archegos' positions, and another $267 million trying to "derisk" them. Credit Suisse Group AG and Japan's Nomura Holdings Inc took the main hit, with reported losses of $5.5 billion and $2 billion, respectively. On April 27, 2021, UBS Group AG, Switzerland's biggest bank by assets, reported that it lost $774 million in connection with Archegos’ failure. Nomura, which initially reported the losses of around $2 billion the previous month, increased its total loss to $2.85 billion. On April 27, 2022, Hwang and former Archegos CFO, Patrick Halligan, were arrested and charged with racketeering conspiracy, securities fraud, and wire fraud in connection the company's 2021 collapse. In a 59-page indictment, Manhattan federal prosecutors alleged that Hwang and Hallligan schemed to manipulate stock prices. Lawyers for Hwang and Halligan stated that they were innocent of the charges in the indictment. In July 2023, Credit Suisse (which had been acquired by UBS) was fined a sum of $387 million by US and British financial authorities for mismanagement related to Archegos.


References

{{reflist Investment management companies of the United States Investment companies based in New York City Financial services companies established in 2013 Financial services companies disestablished in 2021 Holding companies established in 2013 Holding companies disestablished in 2021 American companies established in 2013 Tiger Cub firms