Cliff Asness, a former Goldman Sachs star and now one of the leading quantitative hedge fund managers, has attacked his own industry for charging exorbitant rates for pedestrian performance.

The co-founder of $70.7bn asset manager AQR Capital Management told Financial News: "Hedge funds generally offer a nice portfolio (gross of fees!) of passive beta, alpha, and a middle ground we call hedge fund beta or style premia. But, unfortunately, managers like to charge fees as if it's all alpha."