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A Goldman Sachs hedge fund is closing its London operations and moving staff to New York, the firm has confirmed.

About eight staff members who were part of the Goldman Sachs Investment Partners (GSIP) Team in London have been told to move.

The decision follows the departure of the team's managing director, Nick Advani.

Goldman Sachs said that the move had nothing to do with the UK's exit from the European Union.

'This is a discrete decision for reasons specific to GSIP, one investment team within Goldman Sachs, and shouldn't be construed as anything but that," it said in a statement.

Mr Advani announced last year that he would be stepping down from his role as managing director. He is now an advisory director with Goldman.

GSIP was set up in 2008 with $7bn (£5.6bn) in assets and at the time was one of the biggest-ever hedge fund launches. According to its website it has offices in New York, Hong Kong and Tokyo, as well as London.

It is part of Goldman Sachs Asset Management, an investment manager with $1.15tn in assets under supervision.

The news of GSIP's departure comes amid widespread speculation that many financial jobs based in London might migrate to cities in the rest of Europe, such as Dublin, Paris or Frankfurt, so that the banks concerned could continue to offer their services to EU clients.

HSBC and UBS have warned that they will have to move some London staff abroad when the UK leaves the EU.

Last month, Lloyd Blankfein, chief executive of Goldman Sachs, said the bank had been moving parts of its "global operations" team to London, but was now "slowing that decision".