Obama's Greek Bailout A Bribe To Benefit Hedge Funds?

[WhiskeyGirl]

Things that make you go hmmm...

UK suffers hedge fund blow

By FT reporters

Published: May 14 2010 03:00 | Last updated: May 14 2010 03:00

European Union countries led by France and Germany plan to push through controversial new hedge fund regulations next week after turning down British pleas to defer a vote in Brussels.

The refusal by Paris and Berlin to delay a decision on the rules, which are opposed by the UK, has set up a bruising early confrontation with David Cameron's new government.

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But Nicolas Sarkozy, French president, and Angela Merkel, German chancellor, are determined to settle a new regulatory framework on hedge funds and the private equity sector, which they claim were partly to blame for the financial crash.

The measures are opposed in the City as being excessively onerous. London is Europe's main private equity centre and home to 80 per cent of its hedge fund industry.

The directive has also caused concern in the US. In March, Tim Geithner, US Treasury secretary, wrote to EU officials warning that, if unchanged, the new regulations could trigger a transatlantic rift by unfairly locking US funds out of European markets.

"The Americans are going absolutely ape," said a person involved in the negotiations. "There's this overwhelming belief now in Europe that if we legislate first, then the US will follow what we do."

more here - http://www.ft.com/cms/s/0/7c062d30-5eef-11df-af86-00144feab49a.html