WSJ – The “Volcker Wish List” — not a rule, of course, but a high bar of ambition set to be lowered by legislators — includes ending investment banks’ sponsorship and investment in hedge funds. After an initial panic, this element is now seen as a sideshow by bankers compared with the potential impact of constraints on balance sheets, proprietary trading and market share.
It seems that the wish list won’t preclude trading with or on behalf of hedge funds which, bankers say, can often represent 40% of a trading floor’s daily business and sometimes hit 60%.
