G10 ministers welcome efforts to improve hedge fund practices

The finance ministers and central bank governors of the countries of the Group of Ten are expressing support for hedge fund industry efforts to improve their practices, reports the Bank for International Settlements.

The officials met in Washington, D.C. over the weekend, where the ministers and governors reviewed progress made in implementing the recommendations of the Financial Stability Forum’s (FSF) Report on Highly Leveraged Institutions updated in May.

They noted that hedge fund activities have not been a major source of market instability during the recent turmoil in the international financial market, and they welcomed the progress made in the joint supervisory review of the counterparty risk management practices of the core intermediaries.

The ministers and governors also welcomed the progress made by private sector working groups in the United States and the United Kingdom to develop hedge fund-related best practices to strengthen market discipline, and looked forward to the completion of their work.

Finally, they welcomed the FSF’s decision to continue its ongoing work on the recommendations and to update its report on Highly Leveraged Institutions periodically.