Hedge fund boss Crispin Odey's £30m windfall

Hedge fund boss Crispin Odey is to pay himself £30.4million after his firm cashed in betting on the near-collapse of the UK banking system last year.

The sum is about half of Odey Asset Management's £68.4million profit pool, according to accounts filed today.

Mr Odey, 50, sold bank shares at the top of the market, only to buy them back at the bottom.

His firm made £23.4million in management fees and £55.8million in performance fees.

According to media reports, Mr Odey admitted he was seen as one of the "bad boys" for short-selling the banks, including Bradford and Bingley.

However, he was also one of the first managers to turn positive on financials, buying shares in Barclays in January.

He said: "The future looks no more stable to me than it did pre-bust."

Mr Odey is married to Nichola Pease, one of the City's highest flying women who is deputy chairman of investment managers JO Hambro. The couple are estimated to be worth about £300 million.

His firm operates from grand Georgian offices in Mayfair filled with antiques and paintings.

He is seen as one of the leaders of the "Mayfair mafia" of hedge fund bosses who helped bring down some of Britain's best known banking names in the financial crash.

Ironically his wife was on the board of Northern Rock as a non-executive director when it became the first high street victim of the credit crunch in autumn 2007.

Mr Odey is one of the more prominent City figures who has threatened to quit London because of the growing burden of tax on high earners.