don’t suppose many readers feel like taking to the streets to defend hedge-funds! Well they should, for this is the operation which comes nearest to the classic aim of directing investment into companies that are - or are expected to be - successful and withdrawing support from political sacred cows and failing companies. So they make a profit in the process but they make Britain richer.
I was going to write “they leave Britain richer.” but rephrased it because IF the EU gets its way and wrecks a dynamic sector of our economy that is just what the hedge funds will do - LEAVE!
Christina Speight
TELEGRAPH 17.6.09
Government 'must back hedge funds', say Lords
The House of Lords has joined the clamour of protest against Europe's proposals for regulating hedge funds and has attacked the Government for failing to defend the industry.
By Philip Aldrick
In a report out on Wednesday, the influential House of Lords EU Committee reminds the Government that "financial services are a key strategic industry for the UK [and] many other EU member states do not share this perspective".
Lord Woolmer, who chaired the Committee, adds: "The UK Government must ensure these national interests are properly reflected in new regulations or in structural reforms.
"The UK Government has appeared to be behind the ball game at times."
European regulators are attempting [to] clamp down on hedge funds, which have few fans on the continent and have been likened to locusts. A regulatory straitjacket would damage Britain, where most of Europe's hedge fund industry is currently based.
The Committee claims in the report: "The content of some proposals, especially those on regulation of Alternative Investment Funds, was rushed with insufficient consultation and a weak assessment of likely impacts."
Mark Hoban, shadow financial secretary, said: "Ill-thought through measures could damage London's financial services sector. It is the Treasury's job to make sure that new directives go through a proper process. The fact that it isn't happening confirms Conservative fears that the Treasury is absent from the debate in Europe."
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