The majority of US-based hedge fund management firms are currently registered as investment advisors with the Securities and Exchange Commission, according to a report by Chicago-based ind
The majority of US-based hedge fund management firms are currently registered as investment advisors with the Securities and Exchange Commission, according to a report by Chicago-based industry data provider Hedge Fund Research.
The study found that nearly 55 per cent of hedge fund managers located in the US are currently registered with the SEC, and that SEC-registered firms manage nearly 71 per cent of all US-based hedge fund capital.
Overall, says HFR, hedge fund managers registered with the SEC manage around 60 per cent of total hedge fund industry assets, which the first currently estimates at USD1.4trn. In addition, nearly two-thirds of the capital managed by funds of hedge funds is managed by SEC-registered firms.
The report has been published in the wake of the introduction into the US Senate of a bill that would remove any legal obstacle to the SEC obliging hedge funds to be registered, and would mandate the US securities regulator to require registration. It is not currently clear whether the legislation would require managers or the funds themselves, or both, to register.
The hedge fund industry experienced a record outflow of USD154bn in capital in 2008, following a record inflow of USD194bn in 2007, according to HFR.
The industry had grown rapidly in the previous decade, with total capital under management increasing from USD375bn in 1998 to USD1.93trn in mid-2008, according to the firm, whose estimates of the total number of hedge funds and their aggregate assets have at times been up to one-third lower than other figures based on surveys of hedge fund administrators.
Hounded in 1993 and headed by president Kenneth Heinz (pictured), HFR Group is active in the provision of hedge fund data, research, indexation and asset management. The group includes Hedge Fund Research, which produces the HFR Database, a source of hedge fund performance data and information, and HFR Asset Management, and also distributes the HFRI and HFRX hedge fund index series.