The FT and WSJ report that Germany is leaning towards involving the IMF in a potential Greek bailout, with the WSJ quoting a senior German official saying that Angela Merkel is “open to a financial participation by the IMF” in any aid package for Greece.

On Tuesday 25 March Open Europe is holding an event in Brussels from 2 - 3.30pm, entitled " The AIFM Directive: Striking the right balance between protection and growth?" Speaking at the event will be: Gunnar Hökmark, MEP for Sweden (EPP) and Member of the EP's Committee on Economic and Monetary Affairs; Othmar Karas, MEP for Austria (EPP) and Member of the EP's Committee on Economi...

The FT reports that European finance ministers yesterday postponed a vote on the EU's proposed AIFM Directive to regulate hedge funds and private equity firms after “a last-minute intervention” by Gordon Brown. Ministers are still at loggerheads over how to regulate funds and managers established outside the EU.

EU finance ministers were due to meet today to discuss the EU’s proposed AIFM Directive on hedge fund and private equity managers. The FT reported this morning that the Spanish EU Presidency had said it was optimistic that a deal would be reached. However, on his WSJ blog, Stephen Fidler reports that Spanish Finance Minister Elena Salgado has pulled the item from the agenda of today’s ...

As EU finance ministers meet tomorrow to reach an agreement on the EU's proposed Alternative Investment Fund Managers Directive, Open Europe warns that failure to agree proportionate regulation could hurt investors, the industry and the wider EU economy.

The FT reports that Gordon Brown and French President Nicolas Sarkozy will today try to hammer out a compromise deal on the EU’s AIFM Directive, aimed at regulating hedge fund and private equity managers. Brown shares the concerns of Tim Geithner, US Treasury Secretary – raised in a letter to EU Internal Market Commissioner Michel Barnier earlier in the week – about the protectio...

Handelsblatt notes that European finance ministers are expected to agree a draft of the EU’s proposed AIFM Directive, aimed at regulating hedge fund and private equity managers, next Tuesday. The article notes that “even the British government…has given up its blockade.

The FT reports that German Bundesbank President Axel Weber has said that proposals, announced by the German Finance Ministry and backed by Chancellor Angela Merkel, for the creation of a European Monetary Fund (EMF) are “not helpful” and are “a sideshow that will distract from the necessary consolidation” of budget deficits in struggling countries such as Greece.

German Chancellor Angela Merkel has backed plans for an IMF-style European Monetary Fund to bailout struggling countries, but warned that establishing such a fund would require EU treaty change and the agreement of all 27 member states. “I find the idea good and interesting”, Merkel said, according to EUobserver.

The Weekend FT reported that, following her meeting with Greek PM George Papandreou on Friday, German Chancellor Angela Merkel pledged to do “everything in order to stabilise the euro, our common currency”, but stopped short of making any financial commitment to support Greece.