Marshall Wace, a London hedge fund manager, has been forced to cut the US fund it launched last year after struggling to implement Tops, its controversial system for evaluating stockbrokers' recommendations.
Chairman Paul Marshall confirmed the US Tops fund has only $500m (€400m) of assets â half its size a year ago when it took $1bn in a day. A Marshall Wace spokesman said clients had redeemed capital from the fund and the firm decided to return capital to protect investment performance for the remaining investors.
