Huffingtonpost.com – I’m told that screenwriter Allan Loeb (21, Things We Lost In The Fire) will hand in his second draft of the long-awaited Wall Street 2 to 20th Century Fox later this week. (Although the great Stanley Weiser and his film school pal Oliver Stone were credited as writers of the original pic, Stephen Schiff was first to script the sequel.) I heard Loeb’s first draft was "so great" that Stone didn’t feel the need to touch it — yet. But no one expects the director to keep hands off on the second draft since principal photography starts on August 10th. The film’s release is now planned for February 2010. So here’s the oh-so-secret plot of Wall Street 2 and who’s playing what:

Michael Douglas, as everyone already knows, reprises his Best Actor Oscar-winning role as Gordon Gekko. But what hasn’t been reported is that, as the movie begins, it’s 21 years later and Mr. Greed Is Good has finished serving his prison sentence. He finds himself on the fringe of the financial community. ("Kinda like Jim Cramer or Mike Milken after their disgrace," an insider with the pic tells me.) Gekko is cautioning Wall Street that the "end is coming" — but nobody is listening. So Gordon is obsessed with trying to repair his ruptured relationship with his daughter. That juicy actress role isn’t cast yet. (But I’d love it if Oliver had the balls to bring back Sean Young as Mom in spite of their notorious falling out during the filming of the original.)

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Tags: 20th century fox, best actor oscar, disgrace, film school, first draft, gordon gekko, greed, jim cramer, loeb, michael douglas, mike milken, oliver stone, principal photography, prison sentence, school pal, sean young, secret plot, stanley weiser, stephen schiff, things we lost in the fire

The Independent – Three major European and US hedge fund groups yesterday pledged to work towards worldwide best practice standards after G20 ministers outlined plans to regulate the freewheeling sector.

The London-based Alternative Investment Management Association and US counterparts the President’s Working Group and the Managed Funds Association have written to the Financial Stability Forum to draw together different industry standards, of which the first draft is expected by the end of next month, said Andrew Baker, head of AIMA.

The organisations are discussing a global standard on issues such as disclosure, risk management, dealing with conflicts of interest within an organisation and statements about operational and business controls.

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Tags: alternative-investment-management-association, andrew baker, business controls, conflicts of interest, counterparts, disclosure risk, financial stability forum, first draft, fund-groups, investment management association, london, organisations, risk management, working-group