ASC Advisors’ Stance on Name and Shame Featured in Hedge Fund Alert

In their February 26 issue, Hedge Fund Alert featured ASC’s stance on the FCA’s revised ‘Name and Shame’ proposal. We noted in a letter addressed to the FCA last month that the revised proposal is only marginally better than the original and still promises to publicly "name and shame" managers when an investigation begins. We encourage investment managers and their advisors to closely monitor how FCA responds as a final rule may be forthcoming. See below for the full section of the article discussing how these proposals endanger firms in the U.K.

While the SEC is becoming friendlier toward hedge funds, its U.K. counterpart, the FCA, has unveiled at least one proposal the industry is fighting to reverse.

Early last year, the FCA published its Consultation Paper CP24/2, which has been dubbed “name and shame” for its proposal to disclose ongoing investigations of investment operations. Under pressure from industry participants and lawmakers, the FCA followed up with a watered-down version earlier this month. But hedge fund industry groups are unsatisfied with the revisions.

“The UK Financial Conduct Authority’s (FCA) revised ‘Name and Shame’ proposals pose as much a threat to firms as the original and undermine the UK’s global competitiveness,” AIMA wrote on its website.

U.S. public relations firm ASC Advisors warned the U.K. agency in a Feb. 14 letter: “In our conversations with US and other global registrants it is clear that this proposal, as written, will lead to investment managers reconsidering the UK for expansion and make the UK a less desirable location for international managers to locate offices or establish businesses. As one General Counsel recently remarked to us, ‘this is so ill advised we would not even consider establishing a presence in the U.K.’”

You can read the full article here.