“AIMA, as the global hedge fund association, has worked throughout the past two years with U.S. and other national and international policy officials and supported efforts to develop regulatory reforms designed to improve financial stability in light of the financial crisis. Our industry did not cause the crisis, and was as negatively impacted as any sector. Nevertheless, as a mature industry, representing investment managers and other professionals throughout this global industry, we have acted to support improvements in our regulatory framework and in financial stability. (more…)
On 28 June 2010, In Alternative Investments, By staff
On 19 May 2010, In Alternative Investments, By staff
“AIMA, as the global hedge fund association, fully supports the regulatory goals of the EU’s Alternative Investment Fund Managers Directive. It is desirable both to increase transparency and to improve systemic risk assessment in the interests of financial stability. (more…)
On 14 May 2010, In Alternative Investments, By staff
London – 14 May 2010: If the European Union pushes through a flawed Directive on Alternative Investment Fund Managers the impact will go far beyond the hedge fund and private equity industries. That’s according to the Alternative Investment Management Association (AIMA) – the global hedge fund industry association. (more…)
On 7 May 2010, In Alternative Investments, By staff
London – 7 May 2010: The Alternative Investment Management Association (AIMA) – the global hedge fund industry association – has expressed concern about the issue of dual registration for non-U.S. investment advisers (hedge fund managers) in legislation currently being debated on Capitol Hill. (more…)
On 27 April 2010, In Alternative Investments, By staff
“Understandably, and as expected, the G20 Finance Ministers meeting communiqué focused primarily on bank regulatory reform and issues concerning systemically important institutions. We were pleased to see the G20 finance officials call again for a ”consistent and coordinated” approach to the oversight of hedge funds. For a global industry, this is important, and is supportive of the goals set by global leaders. While hedge funds are not themselves systemically important institutions, they can help to provide systemically relevant data reporting in the interests of financial stability. (more…)
On 23 April 2010, In Alternative Investments, By staff
The European Union should not diverge from the path already set by the G20 on hedge fund regulation. Doing so could fragment global markets, create inconsistent regulatory requirements and result in international trade disputes. That’s according to the Alternative Investment Management Association (AIMA) – the global hedge fund industry association. (more…)
On 3 March 2010, In Alternative Investments, Family Office and Wealth Management, Hedge Funds, Private Equity, By staff
“The Alternative Investment Management Association, the global hedge fund industry association, believes that short-selling is a wholly legitimate market practice, is not abusive and helps capital markets function more effectively. We welcome the recognition by the Committee of European Securities Regulators (CESR) that ‘legitimate short selling plays an important role in financial markets. It contributes to efficient price discovery, increases market liquidity, facilitates hedging and other risk management activities and can possibly help mitigate market bubbles’. We also agree with CESR that consistent rules for short-selling throughout the European Union are desirable.
“CESR’s proposed reporting regime is greatly preferable to the bans that were imposed (and then lifted) on short selling. However we think it could be improved in several respects. We note that CESR says that ‘public individual position disclosure should be a central plank of the regime’ but we believe that any reporting of short positions to the market should be in aggregate form only. Aggregate reporting would provide useful information for regulators about short interest in individual stocks but this has not been proposed by CESR. We believe that disclosure of individual positions should be made privately to the regulator and kept confidential in order to prevent potentially serious market distortions for no obvious benefit.
“CESR has set the threshold for reporting requirements too low at 0.2% of the issued share capital of the relevant stock for disclosures to regulators and 0.5% for disclosures to the market. This increases the likelihood that the information gathered will be overly burdensome on hedge fund managers and could swamp regulators with unnecessary information.
“We would also note the recent report from the international management consultancy Oliver Wyman commissioned by the MFA that concluded that the UK rules requiring public disclosure of short positions came at the expense of wider spreads and poorer liquidity in those stocks affected.”
On 1 March 2010, In Alternative Investments, Family Office and Wealth Management, Hedge Funds, Private Equity, By staff
London – 25 February 2010: The Alternative Investment Management Association (AIMA) – the global hedge fund industry association – has welcomed the hedge fund survey published by the UK’s Financial Services Authority which concluded that the industry does not pose a systemic risk and features relatively low levels of leverage.
Andrew Baker, Chief Executive Officer of AIMA, said: “As the UK is home to 80% of Europe’s hedge fund industry, these conclusions from the FSA are also true for the European hedge fund industry as a whole. These striking conclusions from the lead regulator for the industry in Europe are of clear relevance to the on-going debate about the Alternative Investment Fund Managers Directive in Europe. If the industry does not pose a systemic risk and features relatively low levels of leverage then additional regulation should not be disproportionate and punitive.”
The FSA survey found that major hedge funds “did not pose a potentially destabilising credit counterparty risk” and that the levels of leverage employed were “relatively low” which “suggests a contained level of risk”. The report concluded that its analysis “revealed no clear evidence to suggest that any individual fund posed a significant systemic risk to the financial system”.
Andrew Baker added: “We hope that policymakers in the European Union will heed this message from the lead regulator in Europe for the hedge fund industry. The FSA rigorously regulates hedge fund managers with its authorisation and on-going supervision regime. Their conclusions are timely and extremely valuable in the current debate.
“We note that the International Organization of Securities Commissions (IOSCO) commented when they released their systemic risk data template for hedge funds that while ‘the legislative process is ongoing in many jurisdictions’, regulators can ‘help to inform the relevant legislative debates’. Regulators who have developed experience and expertise of the hedge fund sector over many years are well placed to inform these debates.
“These conclusions from the FSA echo similar remarks by Jacques de Larosière and the European Central Bank, among others, who have questioned aspects of the draft Directive. AIMA has embraced the principle of transparency by the industry to the authorities and has engaged with policymakers to secure effective and proportionate regulation in this field.”
