The controversial practice of "gating" hedge funds to stop investors withdrawing all their money at once has come to the fore again this week with news that a US firm that did exactly that during the crisis, has fired 10% of its 1500 staff globally after losing almost half its assets.

DE Shaw, one of the oldest hedge funds in the world, revealed the layoffs this week. Assets in DE Shaw have fallen from nearly $40bn since then to about $21bn, according to a person familiar with the matter.