HedgeCo.Net – November 9, 2009 – The Hedge Fund Association, HFA, today announced progress on its “Speak Up” campaign, which seeks to ensure that regulation of the hedge fund industry meets government concerns without imposing over-reaching, broad measures that makes it costly for small funds to operate, and could impede industry growth and job creation.

HFA President, David Friedland, said that the HFA was not opposed to additional regulation and registration or reporting requirements.  ”The HFA is open to working with Congress to ensure that any regulation is cost effective and achieves objectives that both Congress and the industry need.”  Mr. Friedland further noted that all hedge funds are already subject to certain rules and regulations, including SEC anti-fraud provisions.

Mr. Friedland said, however, that “proposals from Congress to regulate funds with assets under management of over $30 million could result in smaller hedge funds, which form the vast majority of firms, to close their doors, causing a devastating impact on an industry already suffering from the effects of the financial downturn.  This will result in a loss of jobs not only within those hedge fund firms, but also at the administrators, law firms, auditors, banks and brokers who rely so heavily on smaller/startup funds for much of their business.”

The Hedge Fund Association’s “Speak Up” campaign was launched with the aim of educating lawmakers and the media of the burden that new regulations would place on smaller hedge funds.  ”Some form of registration requirement and reporting requirement for firms with more than $250 million would seem to make the most sense” Mr. Friedland stated.  ”Typically firms with more than $250 million have a much larger internal staff than firms managing smaller funds.  The larger firms can take on the burden of increased registration/reporting requirements and an internal compliance officer in a much more economical fashion.”

As a result of this campaign, recent legislation being proposed by Congress would raise the registration requirement from assets under management of $30 million to $150 million.

“It’s not as high as we would like, but we appreciate that lawmakers have listened to the concerns of the HFA and taken steps that would protect the small managers from the burden of excessive regulation.”

About The Hedge Fund Association

The Hedge Fund Association (“HFA”) is an international not-for-profit organization made up of hedge funds (both large and small), hedge fund investors (including funds of funds, family offices and high net worth individuals) and service providers (including law firms, administrators, brokers, accountants, marketers and technology firms). Unlike other trade organizations in the industry, our membership is not made up exclusively of the largest funds in the industry.  We hold frequent educational and networking events, and focus on educating the public, media and lawmakers to dispel myths about the hedge fund industry.  For more information please visit www.thehfa.org.

Tags: hedge fund, hedge fund association, hedge funds, hfa, SEC, speak up

West Palm Beach (HedgeCo.net) – Global hedge fund association AIMA (The Alternative Investment Management Association), has published the world’s first global Guide to Sound Practices for Funds of Hedge Funds Managers.

The guide was developed by some of the world’s leading funds of hedge funds practitioners. It focuses on areas including risk management, due diligence, disclosure to investors, valuation, management of conflicts of interest and other operational issues. The group consisted of Unigestion, Financial Risk Management; Man Investments; Fauchier Partners; Pacific Alternative Asset Management; Ivy Asset Management; HDF Finance; Penjing Asset Management and Simmons & Simmons.

“AIMA has produced a huge body of work on sound practices and this was the ‘missing book in the library’." Andrew Baker, CEO of AIMA, and a member of the steering group, commented, "It is particularly important given recent events that there should be dedicated guidelines for funds of hedge funds managers. Funds of funds are a critical sector in the industry, are of particular interest to institutional investors, and it is right that AIMA has taken the lead in documenting sound practices. We hope that these guidelines that have been drawn up by such a distinguished and experienced group will be widely observed within the industry.”

Alex Akesson

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“We welcome the communiqué from the G20 Finance Ministers. AIMA, as the trade body for the global hedge fund industry, has already announced its support both for the authorisation and regulation of hedge fund managers worldwide with their national regulators, and for the disclosure of systemically significant information.

This is an endorsement of the industry leadership displayed by AIMA when we put out the new policy platform on 24th February that featured a series of major proposals to increase transparency. We are pleased that these proposals are reflected in this communiqué.

We are also glad that the G20 made reference in their Progress Report on the Washington Action Plan to the global initiative on the convergence of hedge fund industry standards by AIMA, the Managed Funds Association (MFA) and the members of the Asset Managers Committee established by the President’s Working Group on Financial Markets.

Our three groups, which represent the great majority of hedge fund managers globally, are working towards a common set of principles to take this process forward, which is a major step forward by the industry worldwide.”

Andrew Baker, Chief Executive of AIMA
London, 16th March 2009

For media enquiries, please contact Christen Thomson, AIMA Director of Communications, on +44 (0)2078228380; email – cthomson@aima.org

About AIMA

As the only truly representative global hedge fund association, AIMA, the Alternative Investment Management Association, has more than 1,200 corporate members worldwide, based in 43 countries.

Members include leading hedge fund managers, fund of hedge funds managers, prime brokers, legal and accounting firms and fund administrators. They all benefit from AIMA’s active influence in policy development, its leadership in industry initiatives, including education and sound practice manuals and its excellent reputation with regulators worldwide.

AIMA is a dynamic organisation that reflects its members’ interests and provides them with a vibrant global network. AIMA is committed to developing industry skills and education standards and is a co-founder of the Chartered Alternative Investment Analyst designation (CAIA) – the industry’s first and only specialised educational standard for alternative investment specialists. For further information, please visit AIMA’s website, www.aima.org.

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