EurActiv.com – Internal Market Commissioner Charlie McCreevy will not impose specific regulation, despite recent calls by politicians to tighten rules.
G7 finance ministers called for vigilance on 10 Feburary 2007 and pointed out the potential risks posed by the fast-growing hedge-fund industry to the stability of international financial markets.
The hedge-fund industry comprised €942 billion ($1.225 trillion) of assets under management in 2006, according to Hedge-Fund Research. However, hedge funds are not subject to any specific EU regulation.
Speaking at a conference in London on 20 February 2007, McCreevy underlined that the decision not to regulate hedge funds on an EU level should be “recognised as swallows of a new European regulatory spring. We are reducing the regulatory pressure post-FSAP and intend to stay there”.
His remarks follow recent criticism by politicians across the EU over large returns made by hedge funds and warnings that the way they operate may pose a threat to financial markets.
McCreevy, in an interview with the Financial Times, argues that regulators would act if necessary, but insists that “as yet, there has not been a threat to financial stability”. Moreover, in view of global capital mobility, he believes that any EU legislation would be meaningless “unless we got a global agreement”.
