Igor Ninković

Igor Ninkovic is a former fixed-income macro trader and portfolio manager. He studied electrical engineering at the University of Belgrade before an economics degree at Bocconi, an exchange at Harvard and an MSc at LSE, then spent over a decade in rates and macro trading: interest-rates trading at Barclays Capital in London (intern 2010, AVP 2011-2014), FI macro trader at Citadel (2014-2019), a brief 2021 stint at Matador Investment Management and FI macro portfolio manager at Schonfeld Strategic Advisors (2021-2024). In 2024 he co-founded Ka Lu Raw Baker LLC, a raw-cake business in Dubai with his wife. As a student he won a Bronze Medal at the IMO 2005 for Bosnia and Herzegovina and an Honourable Mention at the IMO 2006 for Serbia.

Notes12

• Quant employment verification: CONFIRMED. Igor Ninkovic held actual paid roles (not student programs) at quant-finance firms: Intern and then AVP, Interest Rates Trader at Barclays Capital London (2010 intern; 2011-2014); FI Macro Trader at Citadel (2014-2019); FI Macro at Matador Investment Management (2021); FI Macro Portfolio Manager at Schonfeld Strategic Advisors (2021-2024). Identity is supported: his LinkedIn (linkedin.com/in/igorninkovic) role history matches these employers and his education (Belgrade/Bocconi/LSE/Harvard), and multiple independent press articles name him in these roles. Barclays Capital (bank, incl. quantitative index strategies), Citadel and Schonfeld (multi-manager hedge funds) and Matador Investment Management (hedge fund) all operate in quantitative/systematic and trading finance. Not CONFIRMED from an index alone - press + FCA register + LinkedIn corroborate.
• Quant employment verification (source detail): UK FCA register lists 'Igor Ninkovic' at Citadel Europe LLP (London) starting 2014-12-19, the same year his LinkedIn shows him joining Citadel as an FI Macro Trader - a regulator-adjacent confirmation of the Citadel role and the London location.
• Quant employment verification (source detail): Business Insider's June 2024 report on Schonfeld's macro desk describes 'Igor Ninkovic, an associate portfolio manager living in the United Arab Emirates who had worked with the firm's macro leaders before joining', corroborating the Schonfeld FI macro role and UAE base - independently of his self-reported LinkedIn.
• Career trajectory is entirely fixed-income macro trading: Barclays interest-rates trading (2010-2014) to Citadel FI macro (2014-2019) to a brief Matador stint and Schonfeld FI macro PM (2021-2024) - a continuous sell-side-to-buy-side macro progression rather than a pivot into an unrelated field until the 2024 cake business.
• Left Schonfeld during a 2024 macro-desk shake-up: a June 2024 Business Insider report details research turnover and PM changes on Schonfeld's macro team, and Ninkovic is named among the macro departures - placing his mid-2024 exit from the firm in the context of a broader macro-unit restructuring rather than an isolated exit.
• In Feb 2025 he was publicly reported to have left macro portfolio management at Schonfeld (Dubai) to found Ka Lu Raw Baker LLC, a raw/vegan cake business in Dubai, together with his wife - a distinct career shift out of hedge-fund trading.
• His LinkedIn headline self-describes as 'Co-Founder | Joint Chief Cake Alchemist | Portfolio Manger' and lists Ka Lu Raw Baker as his current (2024-) role in Dubai, so at the time of enrichment no current hedge-fund or trading role was listed.
• Index/aggregator labeling: the role dates and employer list above originate from LinkedIn-derived index/enrichment data; the presence in independent press (efinancialcareers, hedgeweek, Business Insider) and the FCA register is what corroborates them. Aggregator pages (Crunchbase, Substack newsletters) restate the same LinkedIn facts and are not independent primary-source confirmation.
• Olympiad identity confirmed via IMO official records: as a Bosnia and Herzegovina contestant at IMO 2005 he scored 14 points and won a Bronze Medal, and as a Serbia contestant at IMO 2006 he scored 9 points with an Honourable Mention - the two national teams match the caller's stated 2005 BIH / 2006 Serbia sequence.
• Education path is consistent with an elite European economics/quant route: Electrical and Electronics Engineering at the University of Belgrade (2006-2007), then BSc International Economics and Management at Bocconi (2007-2010), an economics exchange at Harvard (2009) and an MSc Finance and Economics at LSE (2010-2011) - the LSE year directly precedes his Barclays graduate start.
• The Matador Investment Management stint (2021) is sourced only from his own LinkedIn/index data and appears as a brief bridge role between Citadel and Schonfeld; no independent press or register record was found confirming it, so it should be treated as index-only.
• Ka Lu Raw Baker LLC is a real, operating Dubai business (Al Quoz 3) selling unbaked vegan, gluten- and refined-sugar-free cakes, listed on Deliveroo and Crunchbase - so the 2024 career change is a genuine operating company, not a hobby.