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Caymen Net News – The Cayman Islands Financial Services Association (CIFSA) has addressed efforts to boost disclosure of information about hedge funds, and has cautioned that the move must be widely agreed and equally applied.
Meanwhile, regulators at the Cayman Islands Monetary Authority (CIMA) said it hoped the changes, contemplated for later this year, if approved, would aid industry transparency, improving global views of Cayman’s financial services industry as it struggles for approval from the Organisation for Economic Cooperation and Development (OECD).
“The most crucial aspect of this is to ensure that there is a comprehensive approach so that every regulated hedge fund is covered,” said CIFSA chairman Anthony Travers. “This should be achieved first. There is a real risk that disclosing partial information may colour the debate going forward and may not present Cayman in its best light.
Free Internet Press – With the leveraged-buyout business on life support, major private-equity firms such as the Carlyle Group are taking a closer look at the battered banking sector as a way to make money for their clients.
Last September, Washington, D.C.-based Carlyle invested $75 million in Boston Private Financial Holdings. Last month, it was part of a group that injected $900 million into Florida’s BankUnited. Carlyle was part of a group looking to buy Atlanta, Georgia-based Silverton Bank earlier this month, until regulators decided to liquidate the institution instead.
Private-equity firms have long eyed the financial services industry, but the sector took a back seat over the past two decades as private equity pursued fat returns fueled by leveraged-buyout deals. Until recently, those buyouts helped Carlyle generate an annual net return of 26 percent across the firm..
CNNMoney.com – When the headhunter first called Richard Baker in late 2007 and asked him if he was interested in becoming president and CEO of the Managed Funds Association – the hedge fund trade group – Baker thought it was a joke. "My reaction was, ‘You want me to do what?’"
An 11-term Republican Congressman from Louisiana, Baker was about as likely a candidate to run the MFA as Bill Gates is to run an Apple in his home office.
Over the years, Baker had emerged as a fierce and independent critic of the financial services industry – pushing for tougher regulation of hedge funds after the 1998 collapse of Long Term Capital Management.
