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Reuters Blogs – The big winner in the Obama administration’s financial regulatory reform package is the beaten-up hedge fund industry.
Hedge funds get a particularly “light touch” when it comes to government oversight in the Obama plan. Essentially, the administration is calling for a reinstatment of a Securities and Exchange Commisison rules that requires managers to register with the agency as investment advisors. The rule was overturned by the federal courts, but many large hedge funds remained registered with the SEC–even though they weren’t required to do so.
Reuters – A Democratic member of the Securities and Exchange Commission called for stricter supervision of hedge funds, particularly large funds that have an impact on the broader financial markets.
Luis Aguilar said the market turmoil of the past year provides evidence that government oversight of hedge funds has not kept pace with the large role they play in stocks, debt and other assets. The fundamental bargain struck some 60 years ago — that hedge funds should be left alone because they only transact privately with the very rich — may no longer be valid, he added.
International Herald Tribune – Two senior senators have introduced legislation to impose U.S. government oversight on hedge funds.
The legislation by Senator Carl Levin, a Democrat of Michigan, and Senator Charles Grassley, a Republican of Iowa, was filed Thursday while the administration of President Barack Obama prepared a broader legislative overhaul of the regulatory system, including an effort to regulate hedge funds more tightly.
State regulators and a panel created by Congress to oversee the $700 billion Troubled Asset Relief Program issued separate but similar regulatory proposals Thursday. The proposals also seemed to mirror closely many of the provisions that administration officials say will be part of their plan.
