Commission to launch consultation on hedge funds

02 December 2008

The Commission will present a consultation paper on hedge funds this week. Results will be discussed at a conference in February. Final results should be available by end March 2009 to feed into the G20 summit in April.

Commissioner McCreevy will present to the College a consultation paper on hedge funds this week. The results should be discussed at a high level conference to be held in February, McCreevy said. Final results should be available by end March 2009 to feed into the G20 summit in April.

 

The focus of the consultation will include the definition of hedge funds, oversight responsibility, the adequacy of transparency measures, direct or indirect capital requirements for hedge funds and risk management. Also, the issue of short selling should be on the agenda although the Commissioner underlines the positive elements of this practice.

 

On private equity the Commissioner said he wants to make sure “that their codes apply across the industry, provide sufficient transparency and are subject to effective monitoring.” A report on the review is planned within the next three months at the latest.

 

“In reviewing the Basel 2 framework the appropriateness of the methodologies used to determine the risk weightings that are applied to private equity deals needs to be looked at with some fresher and more critical eyes”, he added.

 

Full speech

 


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