By Neil Wilson
Just as the U.S. Congress held hearings late last year regarding the financial crisis, so too has the Treasury Select Committee in the U.K. Parliament - including one on hedge funds. Such an engagement should have provided hedge fund industry leaders with an ideal opportunity to get across some important truths - and assist lawmakers in crafting appropriate legislative responses.
As was the case in Washington, where the session featured luminaries such as George Soros and John Paulson, the London-based industry was represented by heavy hitters, including Paul Marshall, co-founder of Marshall Wace Asset Management; Chris Hohn of The Children's Investment Fund; Doug Shaw, formerly of Gartmore and TCI and now head of hedge funds at BlackRock; and Stephen Zimmermann of NewSmith Asset Management.
After sitting through the session, however, I left the hearing room feeling somewhat frustrated and dispirited. The hedge fund industry representatives, which also...