EU deal on hedge funds ‘passport’

PRIVATE equity and hedge funds will have access to all 27 EU countries with a single registration and be subject to EU-wide regulation following an agreement by finance ministers.

The agreement, which has taken months to agree, ended a row between Britain and France on the measures and replaces funds having to sign up with each individual country to sell to investors.

France agreed to allow foreign funds to operate in the EU — a key demand by Britain and one backed by the US — under a so-called passport system, provided the countries involved reciprocated the arrangement.