Times Online- The hedge fund industry’s lobby group mounted a last-ditch attempt yesterday to persuade the City regulator to delay its controversial rules on short-selling, which are due to come into force tomorrow.
The Alternative Investment Management Association sent a letter to the Financial Services Authority (FSA) asking for more time for its members to prepare for the changes.
The association’s call was backed by Andrew Shrimpton, the former head of hedge fund regulation at the FSA. He said that the regulator should wait “until next Wednesday, at the earliest” to give the funds sufficient breathing space. “The FSA is skating on thin ice, using emergency powers to bring in these requirements, and is vulnerable to a legal challenge,” Mr Shrimpton said. “It should try to generate some goodwill with the industry by showing it can listen and back down in light of what it hears.”
