NEWS

Kara Scannell reports in the Wall Street Journal July 28, 2009 that “the Securities and Exchange Commission issued new rules to govern short-selling, promising investors fresh information about the volume and velocity of negative bets placed against companies. But it dropped a requirement that hedge funds disclose details of short positions to regulators. [...]

The three-week ban on short selling during 2008 for nearly 800 U.S. financial stocks had “severe market quality consequences,” according to a recent study. Professors Don M. Autore (Florida State Universiy), Randall S. Billingsley (Virginia Polytechnic Institute and State University), and Tunde Kovacs (Northeastern University; Virginia Polytechnic Institute & State University) found that the [...]

A University of Sydney professor reviews regulatory actions by the United States, the United Kingdom, and Australia to curb short selling activity. “If regulatory action by securities regulators is aimed at promoting an efficient and informed market, actions to ban or restrict short selling may prove to be out-of-step with the objectives and [...]

Anthony Bolton, president, Investments at Fidelity International, wrote an op ed in the Financial Times in which he questioned the ban imposed on short selling by the U.K. Financial Services Authority. He stresses the importance of short sellers. “Regulators should recognise the skill with which some hedge funds read the approaching disaster and [...]

In July 15 testimony before the Senate Banking Subcommittee on Securities, Insurance, and Investment, the Coalition of Private Investment Companies proposed the drafting of a special “Private Investment Company” statute, specifically tailored for SEC regulation of private investment funds. This legislation would require:

Registration of private funds with the SEC;
That each such fund and its [...]

James S. Chanos, chairman of the Coalition of Private Investment Companies, will testify Wednesday afternoon, July 15, on hedge fund regulation before the Senate Banking Subcommittee on Securities, Insurance, and Investments. He will suggest ways in which risks related to hedge funds and private investment pools can be reduced and offer legislative suggestions to [...]

In a comment letter filed with the Securities and Exchange Commission, the American Bar Association’s Committee on Federal Securities Regulation stressed that it is “essential that [the Securities and Exchange Commission] identify the facts and data upon which its conclusions are based.” The letter summarizes court precedents defining the requirements regulatory agencies must [...]