Brussels, 08/05/2007 (Agence Europe) - After the Ecofin Council in part devoted to hedge funds, on Tuesday 8 May, European Internal Market Commissioner Charlie McCreevy said he was in favour of a voluntary code of conduct being adopted by the sector. Thus he found himself in agreement with German Finance Minister Peer Steinbrück, who has long argued for this. He said, however, that the voluntary code of conduct for hedge funds must not be compared with the one for the clearing and settlement industry, championed by the Commission (see EUROPE 9301). “I don't think the Commission (needs) to intervene at this stage. … We have to let things develop,” he added. He felt that the incubation period for a code of conduct for hedge funds should be “much shorter” that the seventeen years needed to find a code of conduct for the clearing and settlement industry.
If it were possible to put in place a “model of good practice” in 2007 to encourage hedge fund to self-regulate and assume greater responsibility, “that would be a remarkable outcome”, Mr Steinbrück said. When asked about how legitimate it was for him to call for such an instrument when the Ecofin Council conclusions do not speak of it, he said he felt he had not been contradicted thus far, insofar as “no one has said that it is not worthwhile”. One thing was sure, he said, and that was that everyone agreed that a legislative framework was not what was best. He felt it was time to consider the content of a possible voluntary code of conduct and observance of its implementation. Speaking of the discussions in the informal Ecofin Council in Berlin (see EUROPE 9409), he considered that the conclusions on hedge funds adopted that day were “a document for future discussion”, particularly for the G7 Finance meeting, which will take place in Potsdam in mid-May (see EUROPE 9420). (mb)