Times Online – Charlie McCreevy, the European Internal Market Commissioner, said yesterday that hedge funds had been particularly active in troubled structured credit markets, but absolved them ofany blame for this summer\u00c3\u00a2\u00e2\u201a\u00ac\u00e2\u201e\u00a2s financial turbulence.<\/p>\n
Conceding that many hedge funds and their \u00c3\u00a2\u00e2\u201a\u00ac\u00c5\u201cwealthy private or institutional investors\u00c3\u00a2\u00e2\u201a\u00ac\u00c2\u009d may have incurred heavy losses in recent months, he maintained that this was no reason for regulators suddenly to intervene.<\/p>\n
\u00c3\u00a2\u00e2\u201a\u00ac\u00c5\u201cFinancial markets function on risk. I do not criticise those who make fortunes when times are good. I\u00c3\u00a2\u00e2\u201a\u00ac\u00e2\u201e\u00a2m not going to shed any tears now if there are losses,\u00c3\u00a2\u00e2\u201a\u00ac\u00c2\u009d he told the European Parliament in Strasbourg.<\/p>\n
As MEPs debated the consequences of the events sparked off by the sub-prime mortgage crisis in the US, Mr McCreevy insisted: \u00c3\u00a2\u00e2\u201a\u00ac\u00c5\u201cAs much as some people want to demonise hedge funds, they are not the cause of the difficulties in the market.\u00c3\u00a2\u00e2\u201a\u00ac\u00c2\u009d<\/p>\n