Regulation of hedge funds in the US, the UK and the EU.

Abstract

Two major trends have emerged in the hedge fund industry over the last ten years. On the one hand, this industry became one of the most creative and innovative fields in international finance. Due to its fast growth and its constant development, regulators found it difficult to mitigate the potential risks induced to both investors and the financial system. On the other hand, the crisis emerging in 2007-2009 concurrently caused many recalls within the hedge fund industry. This shut down many funds. Similarly, hedge fund managers received arbitration and litigation charges in recent years, all at investors’ expense. These cases were extremely rare during the previous years. These trends raised two major questions: Should tighter regulation or lighter regulation be applied to the hedge fund industry? Which one favours the investors better and assures their increased protection? This thesis pursues the answer to these questions, by examining the regulation of hedge funds focusing mainly on investor protection firstly in the US, including the impact of the Dodd-Frank Act and secondly in the EU and the selected single European jurisdictions (the UK, Italy, France, Ireland, Luxembourg, Malta and Switzerland), and the impact of the AIFM Directive on the local jurisdictions, with the final purpose to establish the framework for a global hedge funds regulation, especially in terms of investors’ interests protection. In addition, this thesis provides practical recommendations for their regulatory future. The present research confirms that the lack of global regulation in this industry before the crisis simply indicated the preferences of the two prevailing financial world leaders: the US and the UK. However, hedge funds regulation should not be performed in absurdum. Risks mitigation alone is not enough reason for eliminating the advantages of hedge funds. Real progress in providing protection to investors is necessary for the coordination of the hedge fund regulation in the European countries with those in the US, while simplifying the financial regulatory system, as investor protection and prudential regulation are the main financial stability instruments in the hands of law-makers.