Aon Hewitt, the investment consultants, and two leading investment firms, Aberdeen Asset Management and Investcorp, have joined the Core Supporters group of the Hedge Fund Standards Board (HFSB).

The Core Supporters group, which includes investors, investment consultants and hedge fund managers, is made up of leading backers of the HFSB.
 
Dame Amelia Fawcett, Chairman of the HFSB, says: “We are very pleased to welcome Aberdeen, Investcorp and Aon Hewitt. The growing commitment to the HFSB from the investor community is particularly valuable as we embark on our international drive to build support for the Standards in the US and Asia.”
 
The HFSB Standards are already well-established in Europe. As part of the strategy to increase support in the US and Asia, the HFSB recently announced a consultation on amendments to the Standards to make them more international and to strengthen them in the light of the financial crisis.
 
Andrew McCaffery (pictured), Global Head of Hedge Funds at Aberdeen Asset Management, says: “As a fund of hedge funds manager, we encourage all our managers to become signatories to the HFSB process.”
 
Deepak Gurnani, Investcorp’s Head of Hedge Funds and Chief Investment Officer, says: “Ensuring high standards of practice is essential to the future of the hedge fund industry and we are pleased to give our backing to the HFSB process.”
 
John Belgrove, Principal Consultant at Aon Hewitt, says: “The Standards are an important first step in the due diligence process for the investor community. We would welcome seeing more managers from both inside and particularly outside Europe signing up to this process.”