I was watching Will Hutton's Dispatches programme on bank failures last night, and it really emphasised the point that it is impossible to generalise about hedge funds, much as many of us lefties like to. Bear Stearns was floored by its hedge funds' exposure to CDOs, as part of a big punt on subprime. Yet at the same time (and subsequently) there were hedge funds profiting from a wholly ...

The rise and power of hedge funds represents one of the biggest changes to the global economy over the past half century. Predominantly limited liability partnerships, most hedge funds are exempted from much of the regulation that applies to investment...

It took only 5 months for the price of oil to plummet from $150 to under $40 in the second part of the year. Meanwhile oil consumption did not even decrease 10%, so what is the real cause of this collapse you may ask? Hedge funds. Let me explain. Oil Hedge Funds During the first part of 2008, Western economies were already slowing down noticeably and hedge funds gradually pulled trillions of dolla...

European laws to regulate hedge funds and private equity funds for the first time should be subject to a full impact assessment, a UK treasury minister says

Bernard Madoff, pioneer of electronic trading and general all-round Wall-St. big wig is being erroneously described as running a hedge fund, which went belly-up. He wasn't. Hedge funds rarely hold client assets - this is a business the investment banks, those that remain, specialise in. So this wasn't a hedge-fund collapse like LTCM, but a straight forward fraud. It was a simple, old school Ponzi ...

Hundreds of small companies have warned EU legislators over possible consequences of proposals to regulate hedge funds and private equity funds, saying these could affect capital support

In an interview with City AM, former Chancellor Lord Lawson said of the EU’s proposed regulation of hedge funds and alternative investment funds, “We need to fight this legislation. Hedge funds do take risks but it is striking that while everyone is worried about them – largely because they don’t understand them – hedge funds haven’t had a problem throughout thi...

The European Commission yesterday (11 March) rejected criticism coming from Washington that plans to regulate hedge funds and private equity in Europe would cause a transatlantic rift by closing doors to US funds.

Investors do not lack for suspicions that some funds' handsome profits were due to more than skill. But that does not indict hedge funds in general: it is a useful and legitimate industry

A fresh effort to unblock the logjam over new EU rules to regulate hedge funds and private equity funds and allay US fears of regulatory protectionism is being spearheaded in the European parliament