Elizabeth Fournier, Nick Pettifer
Staff writers
The first topic of debate at the Forum was the proposed alternative investment directive. Panllists argued that the European Commission is ignoring proper process and rushing knee-jerk regulation through the legislature. The draft directive will lose effectiveness as a result.
"The broad regulation agenda has been dropped very quickly. The idea was that there would be an initial consultation, then a consultation on how best to proceed and then legislation," said Christopher Bates, partner at Clifford Chance. "The middle section has disappeared; it happened with ratings agencies and now it is happening with hedge funds."
The panel also remembered the Prospectus Directive as a similar situation. At the time, the fear was that the Commission was more concerned with keeping to its schedule than it was to ensuring the regulation was effective.
"They are throwing the net broadly to identify funds with systemic risk," said...