Ex-JPMorgan trader Lee readies Asia hedge fund

HONG KONG May 2 (Reuters) - The former head of JPMorgan Chase & Co's equity derivatives group for Asia-Pacific is set to strike out on his own in the fourth quarter as the MIT-educated Hong Kong native seeks to build a hedge fund with a capacity of up to $2 billion.

William Lee, who returned to Hong Kong from Singapore in 2000, is among dozens of traders globally in the last three years to move from a proprietary trading desk to his own fund.

Driving the flight from a bank's prop desk to a start-up fund is an increase in global regulations that make it more difficult for banks to trade their own money.

The relative value hedge fund, which aims to take advantage of price discrepancies between securities, would start trading in November or December, Lee, 40, told Reuters in an interview on Wednesday.

"It will be very similar to my trading background," said Lee, who joined JPMorgan in 1995 as an FX option trader in Singapore. (Reporting by Nishant Kumar; Editing by Michael Flaherty and Chris Lewis)