New York (HedgeCo.Net) – Hedge fund regulation was the hot topic at this past weekend’s meeting of European Union leaders, when German Chancellor Angela Merkel hosted a summit in Berlin discussing ways to curtail the financial crisis.

Merkel joined leaders from The Netherlands, Spain, France, Italy, England, the Czech Republic and Luxembourg to agree on a unified EU stance prior to London’s G20 Summit in April, where all the world’s leaders will come together to discuss the financial crisis.

"We have today underscored our conviction that all financial markets, products and participants must be subject to appropriate oversight or regulation, without exception and regardless of their country of domicile,” said Merkel.  “This is especially true for those private pools of capital, including hedge funds, that may present a systemic risk," she said, although the details of how hedge funds should be regulated still need to be worked out.  

English Prime Minister Gordon Brown has also expressed his belief that there should be tighter regulation, despite the fact that London is Europe’s premier center for hedge funds.

"Together we will support oversight of under-regulated sectors and I also support proper disclosure and transparency of hedge funds," Brown said earlier this month.

French President Nicolas Sarkozy agreed, saying, “We want regulation of hedge funds, and we’re not going to put up any longer with the bonus reward system of traders and bankers.”

The EU leaders are scheduled to meet again this Sunday.

Julie Scuderi
Senior Editor for HedgeCo.Net
Email: julie@hedgeco.net

HedgeCo.Net is a premier hedge fund database and community for qualified and accredited investors only. Membership on www.hedgeco.net is FREE and EASY. We also offer FREE LISTINGS for Hedge Funds!
Be sure to check out our sister sites. www.hedgefundlounge.com, www.hedgefundtools.com, and www.hedgefundemployment.com

Tags: accredited-investors, angela-merkel, chancellor-angela-merkel, country of domicile, english prime minister, european union leaders, french president nicolas, french president nicolas sarkozy, g20 summit, german chancellor angela merkel, hot-topic, nicolas sarkozy, president-nicolas-sarkozy, prime minister gordon brown, private pools, proper disclosure, reward system, systemic-risk

Tax-news.com – Endeavouring to assuage fears and re-establish public confidence in the wake of one-day nationwide strikes, French President Nicolas Sarkozy has announced that local business tax or ‘taxe professionnelle’ will finally be abolished in 2010.

Expressing his determination to uphold his predecessor Jacques Chirac’s promise to end the highly controversial tax, President Sarkozy has underlined the importance of the measure – vital to maintaining industry in France and ultimately to the preservation of jobs, despite a total cost to the state estimated at EUR8bn.

Created in 1975 – ironically by the then Prime Minister Chirac – business tax forms one of four direct local taxes collected by councils, and represents around half of their tax revenue.

Read Complete Article

Tags: business tax, controversial tax, fears, french president nicolas, french president nicolas sarkozy, jacques chirac, jobs, local taxes, nicolas sarkozy, predecessor, president-nicolas-sarkozy, prime-minister, public confidence, strikes, tax forms, tax news

People – Bowing to Europe’s enthusiasm fora new global financial order, U.S. President George W. Bush has agreed recently to host a world summit on reforms of the international financial system.

After a weekend meeting at Camp David some 100 km north of Washington D.C., Bush said in a joint statement with French President Nicolas Sarkozy and European Commission President Jose Manuel Barroso that the summit would "seek agreement on principles of reform needed to avoid a repetition of the problems and assure global prosperity in the future."

It was regarded as a victory for European Union (EU) leaders, who are pushing hard for an overhaul of the current global financial system in the wake of the financial crisis.

Europe has become a big victim in the financial crisis, which originated in the United States. As European banks are still struggling with tight credit triggered by the U.S. sub-prime mortgage defaults, Europe learned it can hardly be separated from the United States.

Read Complete Article

Tags: contagion, data-provider, fur-trade, german-initiative, growth-prospects, luxuries, money-markets, peter-thorne, president-nicolas-sarkozy, roel-campos, schilling, services-commissioner-charlie-mccreevy, silicon-valley