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Hedge Funds Welcome G20 Communique,
by Robert Lee, Tax-News.com, London
Tuesday, April 07, 2009
The G20’s April 2 communiqué, which seeks to increase regulation
of hedge funds and other high-yield investment vehicles, has been given a cautious
welcome by the hedge fund industry.
In response to the G20’s communiqué, Managed Funds Association (MFA)
President and Chief Executive Officer Richard Baker stated the following:
“Financial system stability and the restoration of investor confidence
are at the top of MFA’s agenda. As the leading association representing
the global hedge fund industry, MFA is committed to working with policy makers
to ensure that smart regulatory reforms are constructed to help re-build investor
trust and protect the integrity of the markets.”
“Hedge funds, whose investors have been negatively impacted by the turmoil
in the financial markets, have a shared interest with other market participants
and policy makers in reestablishing orderly, stable markets. Hedge funds have
a strong role in helping to hasten economic recovery as liquidity providers,
risk dispersers and as a source of capital for businesses hoping to grow and
create new jobs. The industry is taking steps to restore investor trust through
the promotion of sound business practices and tools for investors to use as
they conduct ongoing due diligence of money managers, as a complement to a smart
regulatory framework. Regulatory reform should strengthen the overall financial
system without impeding hedge funds’ ability to contribute to the global
economic recovery that the leaders of the G-20 hope to advance.”
In a separate statement the Alternative Investment Management Association
(AIMA), welcomed the proposals:
“AIMA is very glad that the G20 has made such a significant commitment
to financial stability. Last year was the worst year on record for the world’s
hedge fund industry and of course our members want stability returned to the
global economy as much as everyone else. The issue of financial stability is
the most important currently facing global policy makers and so we welcome the
new Financial Stability Board and look forward to working as closely with it
as we have with its predecessor, the Financial Stability Forum.”
“We are determined to do everything we can to assist international policy
makers in preventing systemic instability in the future and the most important
way we can do that is through the provision of information. If policy makers
can get, through improved information, a better sense of concentrations of risk
in global financial markets, then they will be better placed to prevent future
instability.”
“We have already offered to play our part in providing this information
– in our new policy platform of the February 24 we supported the provision
of systemically significant information by large hedge fund managers to their
national regulators. Our new policy platform also stressed our support for a
global manager authorisation-supervision template. AIMA took the lead on behalf
of the hedge fund industry globally in these respects and this is an endorsement
of our position.”
“Of course it is right that systemically significant institutions should
be subject to oversight. We would however note the conclusions of Lord Turner
in his recent Turner Review who pointed out that hedge fund leverage ‘is
typically well below that of banks – about two to three on average’
compared with levels of up to 50 times with some of the banks; and that ‘hedge
funds in general are not today bank-like in their activities’. Although
we agree that any entity that provides banking services should be regulated
as a bank, the vast majority of hedge funds do not fall into this category.”
“The current crisis is a banking crisis and the major international
reports on it so far have concluded that the hedge fund industry’s role
was marginal. Indeed we think that there is increasing awareness that our industry
can play a positive role in assisting the recovery because of the willingness
of hedge funds to provide counter-cyclical risk capital. The US has taken the
lead in this respect with the Public-Private Investment Program and we hope
that other countries will follow this lead.”
Although the impact of the London meeting will not be apparent until new legislation
comes into force, it seems that the G20’s communiqué
will have limited additional implications on the UK and US industry. It seems
that the Group of 20 has simply re-emphasised the need to implement policies that were in
the pipeline prior to the London summit.
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