AIMA Welcomes FSA Discussion Paper on Hedge Funds

LONDON (HedgeWorld.com)–The Alternative Investment Management Association is coordinating a response by its members to last week’s discussion paper on hedge fund marketing rules, issued by the Financial Services Authority of the United Kingdom.

AIMA director Emma Mugridge said in a statement that the response will be submitted to the FSA by the Nov. 29 deadline.

AIMA, headquartered in London, is an international industry group that provides a non-commercial, educational voice for hedge fund managers, prime brokers, futures commission merchants, and their service providers, in speaking with regulators, media, and the professional investor community.

AIMA “recognizes the need for open discussion regarding potential developments of the U.K. regulatory regime,” according to its statement. It welcomes the FSA paper’s accurate summary of the current regulatory environmental in relation to hedge funds as well as the “very clear questions [it poses] for consideration by the U.K. hedge fund industry and other interested parties.”

The Paper’s 12 Questions:

1. Do respondents agree that there is no strong case for changing the regime for the marketing and selling of hedge funds to sophisticated investors?

2. Do respondents believe that hedge funds, or certain types of hedge funds, can be suitable products to be marketed and sold to the retail sector?

3. Is there significant demand from firms to sell hedge fund products to the retail sector? Would there be significant demand for hedge fund products from retail customers if we liberalized rules to allow them to be sold to the retail sector?

4. Are there any other options not considered in this paper that respondents think we should consider in relation to the marketing and selling of hedge funds in the U.K.?