Treasury Under Secretary Urges International Agreement on Hedge Fund Regulation

Under Secretary for International Affairs Lael Brainard recently delivered a speech at the Institute of International Bankers’ “Regulatory Dialogue with Government Officials” urging other nations to adopt the U.S. approach to hedge fund regulation:

It is also vital to have common agreement on the regulation of hedge funds, and to extend the perimeter of regulation to ensure stronger oversight of these funds. We have pursued international agreement on the same approach adopted by the United States: requiring all advisers to hedge funds, above a threshold, to register and report appropriate information so that regulators can assess whether any fund poses a threat to overall financial stability by virtue of its size, leverage, or interconnectedness. And to impose heightened supervisory and prudential standards on entities that do.

It is essential to ensure convergence of regulatory treatment for hedge funds to avoid a race to the bottom and promote a level playing field. Indeed, all the members of the G-20 committed to the same standards for oversight of hedge funds and to implementing these standards in a nondiscriminatory manner, and we are working hard to ensure these commitments are fulfilled.

The full text of the speech is available here.