Banks and hedge funds aren't always competing for the same types of profits that other market participants are. I've met some very small individual investors who generate legitimate alpha. There are myriad niches to extract outsized returns from. Even the fact that your bank was able to succeed shows this. Banks have shit technology and fundamental information, but can utilize their customers' ideas and order flow to generate alpha. That's a niche that Hedge Funds and prop shops don't fulfill.