West Palm Beach (HedgeCo.net) – The Alternative Investment Management Association (AIMA), announced plans to mobilise the world’s hedge fund industry on the European Commission’s draft directive for Alternative Investment Fund Managers.

“There are provisions in this directive with potentially serious consequences for managers, investors, service providers and advisers internationally." Andrew Baker, AIMA CEO, said, "As the global trade body for the industry it is right therefore that AIMA takes the lead in mobilising resources in order to secure the best possible outcome for the industry on the directive."

"The feedback we’re getting from our members, who manage more than 75% of hedge fund industry assets globally, is that the draft directive has created enormous confusion. Because of the lack of proper consultation the directive presumes a structure for the industry which bears little relationship to reality. Implementation in its current form could prove to be unworkable. It also appears to be in conflict with much of existing EC financial services legislation." Baker said.

"We will therefore call for urgent effort to be devoted to re-drafting this directive." Baker continued, "To achieve this, AIMA will be announcing a series of initiatives to mobilise the industry. We will not oppose everything in the directive; some of the provisions, such as manager authorisation and registration, are already supported by us and measures which increase transparency to assist the authorities in the understanding of systemic risk issues are to be welcomed."

"We want to work with the Commission, EU governments and the European Parliament on this. We are not opposed to the directive per se, we just want the final directive to be practical and realistic.” Baker concluded.

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West Palm Beach (HedgeCo.net) – Todd Groome, Chairman of the Alternative Investment Management Association (AIMA) said in a statement regarding the Public-Private Investment Program announced by Tim Geithner, "It shows that there is recognition among policy makers at the highest level that the hedge fund industry is part of the solution."

The Treasury’s Public−Private Investment Program aims to unclog credit markets and promote credit extensions, according to the Northern Trust Economic Research Department. The program has chalked out two initiatives – Legacy Loans Program and Legacy Securities Program. The Legacy Loans Program combines FDIC guarantee with debt financing from the private sector and Treasury to purchase troubled loans from financial institutions.

"Hedge funds can and should play a crucial role in assisting the recovery by providing counter-cyclical risk capital at times of distress like this," Groome said.

"AIMA, as the global trade body for the world’s hedge fund industry, is committed to working with policy makers internationally to help solve the current market crisis and prevent future crises from taking place," he concluded.

Alex Akesson

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