One of Goldman Sachs‘s flagship hedge funds, run by two of the Wall Street bank’s most talented traders, has lost close to $1bn since its launch in January in further evidence of the crisis facing the industry.

Goldman Sachs Investment Partners, which was hailed in January as one of the biggest hedge fund launches, raising more than $6bn, has told investors that it had lost $989m by September. It said the fund was down about 13 per cent in the third quarter. Year-to-date performance fell about 15.5 per cent in the year to September.