Each business day HedgeCo.Net keeps you informed with the top hedge fund industry news, opinion and insight from around the globe. From the latest hedge fund launches, to the impact of regulation, competition, and investor activism - we track the topics and people that make a difference to you.
HedgeCo.net (West Palm Beach) – Paul Myners, the UK Financial Services Secretary to the Treasury, speaking at an Alternative Investment Management Association (AIMA) event this morning in London, said, “the UK is not in the business of blocking more stringent regulation, contrary to what some in Europe may say.”
Lord Myners said the UK government’s aim was “a framework which allows efficient, well run and well regulated fund managers to compete for business without restriction across the EU and to make the EU a base from which to compete in global markets.” But he said that the draft directive, “needs major surgery before this can be delivered”.
He also expressed concern about the protectionist impact of the directive and argued that, “to deny institutional investors a global choice of fund manager would come at a direct cost to pension savers and others who rely on the returns from institutional investment funds”. He said of the custody elements of the directive that “imposing strict liability for delegated custodians would impose large capital costs, make investing in some emerging markets impractical and increase costs to investors”. And on the leverage caps within the directive, he argued that “systemic risks posed by the leverage of any one fund can only be assessed in the context of wider market conditions so capping leverage on a fund-by-fund basis cannot be an effective protection”, adding that it could even be counter-productive.
Lord Myners said that the UK government was, “reaching out bilaterally to leverage natural alliances and win over others” in Europe. But he pointed out that managers threatening to quit the UK “will make my job harder” and would not be well received in Europe. And he called on institutional investors to make their voices heard on the directive. He said, “if institutional investors can make clear which regulatory safeguards they want to see applied to their fund managers and which they find to be costly and unnecessary, this will send a powerful message to policymakers”.
The UK Financial Services Secretary to the Treasury concluded by arguing that, “an open single market in fund management must be a major opportunity for Europe and we must all do our bit to ensure we deliver the best possible result for EU investors and for the future of the EU funds industry”.
Caymen Net News – Local hedge fund experts have reacted favourably to last week’s proposals by the Inspector General of the US Securities and Exchange Commission (SEC) to increase fund regulation.
The SEC has proposed that regulation of hedge funds and other investment advisors should be tightened in the wake of the SEC’s failure to stop Bernard Madoff’s $65 billion Ponzi scheme.
Don Seymour, former Head of the Investment Services Division of the Cayman Islands Monetary Authority (CIMA) and Managing Director of dms Management Ltd, said:
“These are meaningful suggestions that are worth consideration. If implemented, they would both enhance protections to investors and respect the privacy of private investment funds, in stark contrast to recent disclosure proposals put forward locally by individuals that do not address systemic risks and betray the private nature of investment funds.”
West Palm Beach (HedgeCo.net) – Global alternative investment industry voice, The Managed Funds Association (MFA) announced that it is joining the major derivatives dealers (the Major Dealers) in presenting a letter to global industry regulators. The letter establishes new commitments addressing key concerns raised by global legislators such as the G20, European Commission and the U.S. Department of Treasury.
MFA members are professionals in hedge funds, funds of funds and managed futures funds, as well as industry service providers. The association first joined the Major Dealers in presenting a letter to global regulators detailing operational targets and other industry commitments in March 2008.
The letter outlines a firm commitment towards strengthening the over-the-counter (OTC) derivatives infrastructure under the auspices of the OMG and its constituents and partners, including the newly formed Board Oversight Committee (IBOC) of the International Swaps and Derivatives Association (ISDA). MFA is dedicated to continuing its collaboration with global regulators, the Major Dealers, buy-side institutions and service providers to reduce risk and improve market infrastructure and practices across OTC derivatives and other financial products.
Richard H. Baker, MFA President and CEO, said, “ MFA , on behalf of the alternative investment industry, is committed to proactively developing and advancing these critical commitments for reducing counterparty and systemic risks and improving operational efficiency in OTC derivatives processing. MFA fully endorses the collaborative efforts with global regulators to support commercially viable centralized clearing platforms, to universally report all OTC derivatives trades and to promote sound business practices. MFA considers today’s letter to be an important step forward for OTC derivatives markets and looks forward to continuing our participation in the design of future steps.”
MFA and its co-signatories are committed to implementing changes to risk management, processing and disclosure that will significantly transform the risk profile of these important financial markets. The OTC derivatives markets provide important flexibility in terms of products and execution and will benefit from a strengthened infrastructure.
Commitments to reduce systemic risk in the OTC derivatives markets include:
Implementing data repositories for non-cleared transactions in the OTC derivatives markets to ensure appropriate transparency and disclosure, and to assist global supervisors with oversight and surveillance activities.
Clearing for OTC standardized derivative products.
Enabling customer access to clearing through either direct access as a clearing member or via indirect access, including the benefits of initial margin segregation and position portability.
Delivering robust collateral and margining process, including portfolio reconciliations, metrics on position and market value breaks, and appropriate dispute resolution mechanics.
Updating industry governance to be more inclusive of buy-side participants through collaborative partnerships among the Major Dealers, MFA and other trade associations. Continuing to drive improvement in industry infrastructure, as well as engage and partner with supervisors, globally, to expand upon the substantial improvements that have developed since 2005.
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Atlantic Online – For all the talk these last few years about the risks to investors of "secretive, unregulated" hedge funds, they certainly haven’t turned out to be the big problem, have they? Thousands of hedge funds lost, in the aggregate, hundreds of billions of dollars last year, and hundreds have shut down. But nobody in government is calling for a hedge fund bailout because hedge funds losses, however painful to investors, don’t create systemic risks to the nation’s financial apparatus. As it turns out, it was the big regulated entities, the banks and investment banks, that were the problem, not the unregulated hedge funds.
Guardian Unlimited – Aspects of a planned European Commission directive to regulate hedge funds do not go far enough and must change to protect investors, French Economy Minister Christine Lagarde said in remarks published on Monday.
The commission is due to publish its draft directive on governing hedge funds on Wednesday, against a backdrop of growing political pressure for increased regulation of institutions seen as posing systemic risks.
"The good side of the directive being prepared by the commission is that it establishes (a) surveillance (system) on hedge funds," Lagarde told French daily Le Figaro.
Guardian Unlimited – European hedge funds believe capping the amount banks can lend them will be more effective in preventing systemic risks than direct regulation, but this is unlikely to satisfy politicians eager for tougher rules.
The funds are often based in far-away and loosely regulated off-shore centres, so a U.S.-style system to limit lending by prime brokers may be more effective to hem in any systemic risk from the opaque industry.
"Instead of targeting hedge funds themselves it would be more effective to target the providers of leverage," said John Donohoe, chief executive of hedge fund consultant Carne Consulting.
