New York Times – American and British financial regulators agreed Wednesday to explore ways to coordinate reporting and regulatory requirements for key market participants, including hedge funds. By working together, the regulators hope to avoid a situation in which hedge funds would jump between New York and London to avoid regulatory scrutiny.

“As the regulators of two of the world’s major market centers, the S.E.C. and the F.S.A. have a strong interest in collaborating,” Mary L. Schapiro, the S.E.C.’s chairwoman, said in a statement. “Only though strong cooperation can we achieve coherent oversight of global actors and limit opportunities for playing the regulatory seams.”

Read Complete Story

Tags: financial regulators, regulatory requirements, regulatory scrutiny

Daily Telegraph – The Financial Services Authority has agreed to work with the Securities and Exchange Commission the leading US financial regulator in an effort to better regulate the work of crossborder hedge funds.

The City watchdog has agreed with the SEC to move towards a common reporting platform for hedge funds and their advisers, as well as looking at the potential for shared regulatory requirements.

Read Complete Story

Tags: hedge funds, regulatory requirements, securities-and-exchange

Professional Pensions – European schemes are increasing their allocation to non-traditional asset classes in a bid to manage their risks more effectively, Mercer says.

The consultant’s European Asset Allocation Survey – which polled around 1000 schemes from 11 countries – found 35% of UK schemes and 60% of European schemes (excluding the UK) expected to introduce new investment classes into their portfolio to help manage future investment risk.

Mercer investment consulting European head Tom Geraghty said: "Despite being innately diverse in history, culture and regulatory requirements, European pension funds have all felt the effect of the last year’s market turmoil.

Read Complete Article

Tags: asset-allocation, asset-classes, conjecture, doubleclick, european pension funds, geraghty, history culture, img-src, investment art, investment risk, m1, market turmoil, mercer investment consulting, professional pensions, quot quot, regulatory requirements, s-market, target, tile, v8