Newsletter October 2011: ESMA ‘third-country’ hedge fund rules ‘unworkable’

LONDON – The hedge fund industry has slammed proposals from the European Securities and Markets Authority (ESMA), the new pan-EU watchdog, over the way it wants to deal with funds and fund managers from outside the bloc in future. In a letter to the Paris-based ESMA, the Alternative Investment Management Association (AIMA), a global hedge fund industry body, says the proposed measures could have the practical effect of preventing EU investors from investing in non-EU hedge funds such as those managed from the US, Canada, Hong Kong, Singapore, Australia and Switzerland.