* Hires ex-co-head of Asia-Pac macro trading, Stuart Riley
* Rokos expected to launch his own fund later this year
* Rokos and Brevan Howard settled a legal dispute in January
* Riley to move to London from Hong Kong (Adds details, background)
By Nishant Kumar
LONDON, March 17 (Reuters) - Former Brevan Howard star trader Chris Rokos has hired former Goldman Sachs co-head of Asia Pacific macro trading, Stuart Riley, as he gears up for one of Europe's most high-profile 2015 hedge fund launches.
Rokos, who made $4 billion for Brevan's main fund between 2004 and 2012 and was paid $900 million during his time there, and Brevan Howard ended a legal dispute in January this year, clearing the way for him to start his own fund.
Riley, who had joined Goldman in 2000, has decided to retire from the Wall Street investment bank in Hong Kong, an internal Goldman Sachs memo seen by Reuters showed. A Hong Kong-based spokeswoman for Goldman confirmed the contents of the memo.
Hidehiro Imatsu, the bank's co-head of Asia-Pacific macro trading will become the head of the team, the spokeswoman said.
A spokesman for Rokos confirmed the appointment when contacted by Reuters.
Riley, who will be based in London alongside Rokos, moved to Hong Kong in 2012 to take up the regional role. Earlier, he was head of European interest rate swaps and products trading in London for the bank.
The move is the latest in a long post-financial crisis trend of experienced traders leaving banks to start funds or join an existing one as tougher regulations globally make it difficult for banks to trade with their own capital.
Former Riley colleague Leland Lim, who was a co-head of macro trading for Asia Pacific ex-Japan at Goldman in Hong Kong, launched his own macro hedge fund firm, Guard Capital, last year with Allan Bedwick, who was the head of macro trading in Asia for Noble Group.
(Reporting by Nishant Kumar; editing by Simon Jessop)