NU Online News Service, Dec. 5, 2003, 7:54 a.m. EST – A member of the U.S. Securities and Exchange Commission is recommending that the SEC seek the authority to register hedge fund advisors.[@@]
Recent news of governance problems at one large hedge fund "illustrates the need, at least to me, for the registration of hedge fund advisors," SEC Commissioner Harvey Goldschmid said Thursday at a securities law conference in Washington. "Too much money is now being managed in the shadows."
Goldschmid cited an SEC staff report completed in September that suggests that registering hedge fund advisors would help deter fraud by including the advisors in the SEC's regular inspection and examination programs.
Effective oversight could "encourage a culture of compliance and controls," Goldschmid said, according to a written version of his remarks posted on the SEC Web site.
The SEC also would get the authority to collect basic information about organizations that happen to be increasingly influential players in the U.S. financial markets, Goldschmid said.
