McCreevy’s bid to regulate hedge funds labelled ‘hasty and unjustified’

COMMISSIONER Charlie McCreevy’s bid for Europe to regulate the controversial €2 trillion hedge fund industry is unjustified, hasty and counterproductive to Ireland’s interests.

This is according to representatives of the Department of Finance, the Financial Regulator and the Irish Funds Industry Association, who addressed the Oireachtas Committee on European Scrutiny yesterday.

The speakers said they backed the spirit of a proposed directive, to regulate specialist investments, but the Commission’s proposals went too far and lacked appreciation of the industry’s complexities.