Bloomberg – Is the hedge-fund industry serious about self-regulation? Does it care in the least about its image? Or does it just want to stuff as much money as possible into the big bag marked swagbefore the whole party gets closed down?
Judging by recent events in London and Geneva, the answers to those questions would appear to be no, no and yes.
They couldn’t care less what the world thinks of them. For evidence of that, just look at the miraculous resurrection of Philippe Jabre. Just two months after agreeing to pay a record fine to the U.K.’s Financial Services Authority following an inquiry into insider trading, Jabre is setting up a new hedge fund in Geneva.
The path is certain to lead to disaster. If the industry isn’t willing to regulate itself and make sure its members act responsibly, it will suffer the consequences. Some kind of statutory oversight is inevitable, for which the hedge funds will have no one to blame but themselves.
Jabre declined to comment for this column when reached by telephone.
