HedgeCo.net (West Palm Beach) – Press Release – Hedge fund, funds of funds and managed futures funds group, the Managed Funds Association (MFA) has commended the working group paper, “Report to the Supervisors of the Major OTC Derivatives Dealers on the Proposals of Centralized CDS Clearing Solutions for the Segregation and Portability of Customer CDS Positions and Related Margin,” which was submitted to industry regulators on June 30, 2009.

"The efforts of the special working group and the Report are both comprehensive and timely." Richard H. Baker, MFA President and CEO, said, "MFA has been a strong proponent in advocating collateral segregation, portability of trades and direct and indirect buy-side access to centralized clearing. We remain committed to working with industry regulators, industry working groups such as the Operations Management Group, and other trade associations on the next steps toward providing such access."

The report was written by a special working group of eight dealers, four MFA members and four other buy-side market participants, addresses key concerns raised by supervisors and legislators globally, to analyze the various U.S. and European CDS clearing solutions with respect to the issues of customer margin segregation and portability of cleared customer CDS positions.

MFA fully endorses the collaborative efforts with industry regulators to support commercially viable centralized clearing platforms and to promote sound business practices.

MFA members include the vast majority of the largest hedge fund groups in the world who manage a substantial portion of the approximately $1.5 trillion invested in absolute return strategies. MFA is headquartered in Washington, with an office in New York. For more information, please visit: www.managedfunds.org